The Spanish tourist resort of Benidorm is clamping down on shops that display lewd or “offensive” items in their windows – fearing that they tarnish the area’s image and upset passers-by.

The items include joke t-shirts and souvenirs with sexual messages on them, which tend to be on display in its so-called “Guiri zone” – the central area that caters to foreign tourists.

Products are often advertised in English, due to the high number of British people that visit each year.

Javier Jordá, the head of commerce in the city hall, said the crackdown was about “ensuring that minors or vulnerable communities are not exposed to offensive messages in public spaces”.

He added that “certain commercial activities have been detected which can be deemed inconsistent” with Benidorm’s laws.

Situated on Spain’s eastern Mediterranean coast, Benidorm is one of the country’s best-known tourist destinations, drawing close to three million visitors last year. More than 830,000 of these were British.

Local laws state that shop windows “must not show products that might hurt people’s moral sensitivity” and it gives as an example “sexy articles”. The regulation does not affect items sold in the interior of shops.

Benidorm’s conservative local authorities are beginning the clampdown by reminding shop owners of the regulation and asking them to remove from their windows or entrances any items which might be deemed to violate it.

If they do not, the next step is to take sanctions, which can include fines of up to €3,000 (£2,614).

But Mr Jordá said he hoped that such measures would not be necessary.

“We don’t want it to come to that, but we must guarantee respect for the rule and that the right image is given of the city,” he said.

Spain received 94 million foreign visitors last year – a new record – with the United Kingdom, France and Germany providing the largest numbers.

The most popular destinations are resorts along the Mediterranean coast, like Benidorm, or in the Canary and Balearic Islands.

However, Spain’s tourism industry has more recently attempt to move away from the sun-and-sand model for which the country is famous due to concerns about over-tourism, which have led to protests.