id been working in Barcelona for the last year as a bike tour guide. it was always an under the table thing because i am american, here on an overextended tourist visa (it expired about a year ago.)
i fell in love with one town in particular in andalucia, and i thought, Why dont i start up my own walking tour business down there? i know some people who give “free walking tours” in barcelona, working only for tips, so Im doing the same here. after spending a few months doing nothing but researching this city, i passed out my flyers in dozens of hotels and ive given a handful of tours. its going great.
the problem? one hostel owner told me that the other “official” tour business (seemingly there is only one) has shut down other little walking tour groups that dont have the official permission of the Office of Tourism. unfortunately, my flyers are in all the same hotels as theirs and our tours start about the same time….
tell me people, please please please, the because my tours are “free”, meaning that there is no cost written on the flyer and i accept what tip the clients want to give me, that i am somehow out of the range of the law… is there anywhere in particular i can look up information about the ins and outs of an only for tips existence?
and, because i am here illegally, i wonder what they can do. ive been keeping up the story that my father is english and i have a UK passport, but, of course, i dont really have one to show if for some reason they called the police on me. hopefully the police wont care enough to haul me away in handcuffs for explaining the history of this beautiful city!
any loopholes? id love some advice. thanks for your time.
-Eric
