Andorra Tourists Complain of Spanish Replies Despite Catalan Official Status

Residents and visitors in Andorra continue to voice frustration over the limited use of Catalan in the tourism sector, where staff often respond in Spanish despite customers addressing them in the country's sole official language.

A regular visitor with around 25 years of trips to the Principality highlighted her growing concern in a social media post. Unlike in Catalonia, where multiple languages hold sway, she noted that Catalan remains Andorra's only official tongue—a distinction she finds makes the issue particularly striking here.

The complaints spotlight a broader erosion of Catalan in tourism businesses, which cater heavily to international clients yet operate within a jurisdiction where the language carries official weight. One prominent case involved a gelateria along Andorra la Vella's primary shopping street, where the woman and her group left without making a purchase after failing to communicate in Catalan. She described sensing staff irritation when pressing to use the language and called for businesses to treat respect for it as a fundamental obligation.

"For dignity and respect towards Andorra, I stick to Catalan," she wrote, as reported by the Andorran News Agency (ANA).

No official response has emerged on these reports.