Barcelona is set to ban organised bar crawls for four years to protect "public health" and lower the risk of crime.

People will be prohibited from promoting, organising or running drinking routes between pubs or bars in the Spanish city under new proposed rules.

Bar crawls are already banned between the hours of 7pm and 7am in the Ciutat Vella District (the "old town") after it was approved by a local decree in 2012 and later extended.

The same restrictions were then imposed in the nearby Eixample District in June of this year.

Barcelona City Council has now proposed the ban be extended to the remainder of the city in fear that bar crawls will "spread to other districts".

A Mayoral decree reads: "Although these are the two districts where the practice of alcohol routes has been detected more openly, it is considered very likely that this practice will spread to other districts of the city, which is why it is considered necessary to approve a new Mayoral Decree that extends the ban to the entire city of Barcelona and without a time limit, that is, throughout the year, given that the presence of tourism in Barcelona occurs throughout the year, and at any time of the day."

The decree states that bar crawls have "highlighted problems of coexistence in public spaces", referencing "free movement" of people as well as local rest.

Bar crawls are set to be banned in Barcelona to protect 'public health'

It also cites the protection of "public health" and a link between "high alcohol consumption" and an "increase in the risk of crime" as reasons for the ban.

The city council has approved the decree which has been made public for 20 working days for consultation.

Once it is fully approved, the ban will be in effect 24 hours a day for a period of four years.

In Ciutat Vella, where the ban is already in place, police are able to fine organisers of bar crawls up to €900 which can be extended to other breaches such as promoting alcohol consumption, according to local media.

The proposed bar crawl-ban comes amid anti-tourism protests which have taken place in many Spanish holiday-hotspots in recent months, including Barcelona.

Anti-tourism protestors in Barcelona

Activists argue that excessive visitor numbers were pricing residents out of their homes and making urban areas unliveable.

Protests have been widespread, with other areas including Majorca and the Canary Islands rocked by demonstrations.

With Britons choosing to stay at home or turning elsewhere amid the protests, restaurants and bars across much-loved resorts have been left empty.

Some protestors in Barcelona sprayed tourists with water guns

Miguel Perez-Marsa, the head of the nightlife association, told the Majorca Daily Bulletin: "The tourists we're interested in are being driven away; they don't feel welcome and are going to other destinations."

While Pedro Oliver, president of the College of Tour Guides, revealed excursion rates have dropped by 20 per cent this summer, with British, German and Italian tourists all being put off.

"The anti-tourism messages are resonating," Oliver admitted.