A vast number of jellyfish have stung hundreds of people on Spanish beaches

Biologists blame climate change and overfishing for concentrations along coast near eastern city of Elche

A vast flotilla of small, almost undetectable jellyfish have stung hundreds of people on Spanish beaches this week – an event swimmer's nightmare biologists say will become increasingly common due to climate change and overfishing.

The jellyfish were concentrated in three areas near the eastern city of Elche along the stretch of white sand beaches on the Costa Blanca. On Tuesday 380 people were stung, compared with the usual four or five swimmers a day, said Juan Carlos Castellanos of the Elche city tourism department.

There was no sign of the jellyfish on Wednesday, but since Sunday at least 700 people have been stung.

"In the five or six years I have been in this job, I have never seen anything like this," Castellanos said.

The beaches were never closed but officials put up warning signs and stationed lookout boats offshore.

The tourism official blamed strong currents for sweeping the jellyfish on to the beaches and then calm seas for letting them hang around for three days. Particularly warm waters – which jellyfish like – also helped boost their numbers during Spain's key summer tourism season.

The jellyfish were small and almost transparent, not readily visible, and thinly spread out over five kilometers (three miles) of coastline.

"The swimmers could probably not even see them," Castellanos added.

Far to the north, a much more menacing species looms – the Portuguese Man-of-War, a floating, violet-coloured sack with long tentacles. More than 300 people have been stung over the past three weeks in Atlantic waters off Spain's northern coasts of Cantabria and the Basque region, officials said.

Spanish marine biologists say, in general, they are seeing fewer jellyfish this summer than in other years. In the Catalonia region and the Balearic islands – both hugely popular with British and German tourists – officials said this summer has been relatively quiet on the jellyfish front.

But scientists also say Spanish beachgoers are going to have to get used to higher concentrations of jellyfish.

Normally jellyfish are kept from getting close to the shore by a natural barrier of less-salty water formed with runoff from summer rains. But with rain more scant because of global warming, this protective cushion is weaker, said Jose Maria Gili, a jellyfish specialist at the Institute of Marine Sciences in Barcelona.

Another problem is overfishing, which depletes stocks of tuna, swordfish and other species that are natural predators of jellyfish. And fewer fish means fewer competitors for tiny plankton that jellyfish feed on, allowing the latter to flourish, Gili says.

• This article was amended on 12 August 2010. The original described jellyfish as having "attacked" areas on the Costa Blanca. This has been corrected.

Growing number of deaths and serious accidents caused by people jumping from balconies towards swimming pools

Emergency services on Spain's Balearic islands have warned holidaymakers of the dangers of jumping off balconies and said the "balconing" craze has claimed four lives this summer and left many tourists seriously injured.

The growing number of deaths comes amid a surge of serious accidents caused by people scrambling up the sides of buildings, jumping from one balcony to another or hurling themselves down towards swimming pools.

Emergency services on the islands said they had to rush three young people to hospital in the space of 12 hours on Sunday after they had plummeted from hotel and apartment balconies.

The most seriously injured was a 20-year-old Briton, who fell from a third floor balcony in the Ibiza resort of Platja d'en Bossa.

Two 18-year-olds were also taken to hospital after separate incidents in Magaluf, in Mallorca, on the same day.

The number of balcony accidents is already triple that of previous summers, with hotel owners saying there seems to be a growing craze for balcony dares and local media pointing to a series of internet videos labelled "balconing".

"Jumping into the swimming pool or crossing from balcony to balcony are some of the causes … though we have also had people sleepwalking," a spokesman for the islands' emergency services said.

A hotel receptionist in the resort town of Alcudia, in Mallorca, said those caught attempting balcony jumps were normally drunk or had taken drugs and were trying to keep the party going once they got back to the hotel.

"This year it has become a real plague," she told El País newspaper. "If you catch them, they say that they have lost their room key, but mostly they are trying to get to a girl's room or think they can jump down into the pool."

Jumps towards swimming pools have caused horrific injuries in the past, with one jumper reportedly mistaking a pond that was only a few inches deep for a proper pool.

Hoteliers say they have tried to make it more difficult for people to jump off balconies in recent years. A campaign is under way to rid the islands of their reputation for booze and drug holidays, with hotels now throwing rowdier guests out onto the street.

Local tourism authorities said other British holidaymakers were normally the first to applaud when this happened.

"We don't want to be seen as a debauched paradise," one hotelier told El País. "If our guests don't pay attention to the signs asking them to behave correctly and responsibly, we throw them out."

A survey of 6,000 young British and German holidaymakers on the Balearic islands last year found that 35% had been drunk at least every other night, and 9% said they had been sexually harassed.

A similar survey found that a quarter of those travelling without a partner had sex on the islands, with one-third of those failing to use condoms.

Developer to build imitation version of Cadaqués in Xiamen Bay, to the astonishment of residents of the Costa Brava port

As home to the painter Salvador Dalí and inspiration for some of his greatest and strangest artistic endeavours, the Costa Brava fishing port of Cadaqués is used to the surreal.

But the latest project involving the north-eastern Spanish town has astonished even the cosmopolitan inhabitants of a place that boasts more art galleries per square kilometre than anywhere else in the country.

A Chinese developer has decided to build a replica of the town half-way across the globe in Xiamen Bay, where mainland China looks out towards Taiwan.

Architects from developers China Merchants Zhangzhou visited Cadaqués in June, taking measurements, photographing buildings and worrying about whether Chinese fire engines would fit down its tiny streets.

Sources at the company said they had found a spot that was geographically similar to Cadaqués, with its gently sloping hills and protected bay. "Building work will start in September or October," a spokesman said.

More than 100 acres of land will be used to build a near replica with a capacity to house some 15,000 Chinese holidaymakers who want to enjoy the Costa Brava experience without having to travel 6,500 miles.

The Chinese version will not have the sparkling Mediterranean, the madness-inducing Tramontana wind or as many jellyfish as Cadaqués, but the promoters say they will try to get as close to possible to the real thing.

"We will recreate the essence of the fishing town and will reproduce the most characteristic elements of the architecture in a space which has a similar coastline," one of the architects, Hu Zheng, told the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia .

That will mean copying the narrow streets and the white-painted buildings that look out across the perfect, open-mouthed bay where small, brightly painted fishing craft bob up and down.

The promoters of the Chinese resort have decided they can improve a bit on the original, however, and will be adding an artificial island.

Among other buildings the architects were keen to see were the warren-like collection of fishermen's cottages in neighbouring Portlligat, where Dalí lived. Topped with a giant egg sculpture, this is where the Spanish surrealist painted many of his most famous works – including a portrait of his Russian wife Gala looking out to sea. It is also where he indulged his fondness for voyeurism, encouraging selected guests to perform sex acts in front of him.

Visitors to the house today are greeted by the same stuffed, wild bear with which Dalí tried to frighten away unwanted guests.

The Chinese developers told officials in Cadaqués that they also wanted to make art a central part of the new town, with space for galleries and offers to some local Spanish artists to show their work there.

"We like the idea and the way they are treating us," said Joan Borrell, mayor of Cadaqués. "We are small but well-known. If they want to imitate you then it means you must have got something right."

Borrell said he hoped the Xiamen version would eventually attract Chinese tourists to the real thing. "As with a work of art, seeing the copy often makes you want to see the original," he said. "That would be wonderful for Cadaqués and for the whole of the Costa Brava."

This is the second attempt to build a replica of the fishing town somewhere else in the world. A previous attempt was made at a Caribbean beach in the Dominican Republic, but Cadaqués says it was not consulted and does not recognise it as a genuine imitation.

China Merchants Zhangzhou declined to comment officially on the project, though sources at the company confirmed that the project was still on track.

Dalí would undoubtedly have approved of the endeavour. One of his favourite money-making habits was to sign, and sell-off, blank sheets of paper for prints and lithographs. As a result, he is one of the most frequently copied and forged artists in the world.

Made in China

Shanghai has built a version of Paris on its doorstep, complete with a scaled-down replica of the Eiffel Tower. The development has full-sized houses and boulevards and was designed to house up to 100,000 people.

Thomas Hardy's vision of Dorchester inspired Chinese town planners to build a replica of the English village for wealthy Chinese families in Chengdu, central China. Eager buyers flocked to the development, which is called "British Town".

A Himalayan town was used by the Chinese to create a tourist version of Shangri-la. The project was inspired by English writer James Hilton's 1933 novel Lost Horizon where he describes Shangri-la as an imaginary Himalayan utopia. The "new" Shangri-la was declared a tourist paradise by order of the Chinese government.

A Chinese businessman drew up plans for a lasting tribute to singer Michael Jackson by building his own Neverland ranch on an island near Shanghai. The cost was expected to be about $15m and the site would include a man-made lake, cinema and a zoo.

Jason Rodrigues