Binge-drinking Brits face crackdown in Majorca and Ibiza as authorities ban pub crawls and happy hours and put £50,000 fine on jumping from balconies
- Sale of alcohol between 9.30pm and 8am and 2×1 drink offers are also banned
- Areas affected include Magaluf, on Majorca, part of Ibiza and an area of Palma
- Spanish regional authorities made the decision to crackdown on poor behaviour
Binge-drinking Britons are being forced out of a favourite Spanish holiday destinations as authorities ban pub crawls, happy hours, and impose £50,000 fines for tourists jumping from balconies.
The crackdown will also end the sale of alcohol between 9.30pm and 8am, and 2×1 cheap drink offers.
Spanish authorities have imposed the ban in Magaluf, on Majorca, the West End area of Ibiza, and in a long stretch of the regional capital Palma after becoming fed up with tourists behaviour.
Crackdown will affect Magaluf, Majorca, the West End area of Ibiza, and a long stretch of the regional capital Palma. (Stock image)
The crackdown, implemented through a special decree, also tackles a problem dubbed balconing in Spain now used to cover everything from holidaymakers jumping between their hotel balconies to tourists leaping into pools from their rooms.
Hotels, which are not legally obliged to kick out guests caught engaging in the dangerous practice although most do, will be forced to expel them under the new rules.
Regional government tourism chief Iago Negueruela described the decree as an ‘exceptional’ measure designed to tackle ‘a specific problem in a specific area.’
A regional government spokesman said: ‘It’s the first law in Europe that restricts the promotion and sale of alcohol in specific tourist areas.’
The concession of new ‘party boat’ licences will also be suspended, with boats that are already licensed banned from embarking or disembarking tourists in the three areas covered by the decree.
Businesses who breach the new rules have been warned they could face fines of up to £510,000 and three-year closures.
Local papers first highlighted the regional government’s plans to tackle drunken tourism with the new decree late last year.
Respected Spanish daily El Pais, reporting on the pioneering measures yesterday, said: ‘The Balearic Islands bans free bars, ‘happy hours’ and 2×1 to put a brake on the excesses of drunken tourism.’
The decree, which will remain in force for the next five years, has been brought in as part of a regional government drive to halt the ‘cheapening’ of the Balearic Islands.
A regional government spokesman admitted in a statement yesterday: ‘Efforts to promote the destination, to provide it with better quality through both public and private sector investments, and position it in an increasingly competitive and global market, have been affected recently by certain uncivic behaviour.
‘Most of this type of behaviour is directly related to alcohol abuse in certain tourist areas of Majorca and Ibiza.’ Council leaders have been mounting a fightback to try to clean up the image of resorts like Magaluf since it was rocked by scandal in 2014 when a British holidaymaker was filmed performing sex acts on 24 men.
The incident led Majorca’s top politician at the time – Jose Ramon Bauza – to dub Magaluf’s notorious party strip Punta Ballena as ‘500 metres of shame’. In 2018 council chiefs upped the ante against badly-behaving tourists in Magaluf by putting up street signs warning them of heavy fines for street drinking, nakedness and fighting.
The brightly-coloured signs, which carried the banner line ‘Have fun with respect’ were mounted on lamp-posts and other visible spots in the party resort.
One said: ‘Drink on the street. Penalty 500 euros.’ Another said: ‘Wear no clothes on the street. Penalty 400 euros.’ and a third ‘Shout, fight, or bother people. Penalty 400 euros.’