Mallorca’s capital Palma to BAN happy hours, pub lock-ins and 2 for 1 offers in crackdown on boozy tourists
The council is meeting with hoteliers before the summer season starts to make sure the resort is not blighted by unruly behaviour
BRITS visiting the bustling capital of Mallorca are to face an even tougher crackdown on "drunken tourism" as Palma seeks to ban late-night lock-ins, 2-4-1 alcohol offers and happy hours.
The local council is to start a series of meetings with residents and hoteliers before the summer season begins to make sure the resort is not blighted by unruly behaviour and drinking on the streets.
Like other resorts on Majorca and Ibiza, Palma had already signalled its intention to take a "zero tolerance" approach but has decided to step this up even further with higher fines.
Councillor for citizen security Angélica Pastor said the council wanted to put more restrictions in force before the masses once again descend on Palma. It is hoping to tighten up the existing laws within three months if agreement is reached.
The local police are backing the idea of putting a veto on groups of two or more revellers drinking in the streets between 10pm and 8am in the morning. In other areas, it will be totally banned.
The council has confirmed that the "more restrictive measures" will expressly prohibit offers of 2x1 alcohol consumption and the so-called happy hour.
It will also ban any pub or club from continuing drinking inside after hours after the legal closing time. Customers will not be able to take glasses or bottles into the road and will be fined if caught doing so.
The tougher regulations will affect popular areas such as Platja de Palma, Can Pastilla and the streets and squares of the main historic centre, as well as the well-known Jaume III.
The pressure group "Por una Playa de Palma Cívica" ("For a civic Playa de Palma") has been campaigning for tougher sanctions for the 2018 summer season. It says drastic action is needed to get rid of the drunken tourism which has plagued the resort for years.
";Drunk tourism is not allowed," said a spokesman.
Their call is being supported by hoteliers and other residents' groups who agree the need for action is now urgent.
The Hoteliers Association of Playa de Palma says 43 establishments have made multi-million pound improvements, effectively to more than 15,000 hotel beds but this is wasted money if spoilt by the drunken tourism image.
"We are not going to change this in a month but we will not stop until we get it," said vice-chairman Jose Antonio Fernández de Alarcón.
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President of the Citizen Group of S'Arenal, Biel Barceló, said: "The administrations have failed on Playa de Palma and it is time for that to change.
"Our message to the uncivil tourist is very clear: we do not love you. "
Last summer, British holidaymakers vowed to take their cash elsewhere after they say they were made to feel unwelcome and even intimidated.
It followed a recent wave of angry protests which peaked when more than 3,000 locals took to the streets of Majorca capital Palma demanding Brits, German and Scandinavian tourists go home.
Visitors holidaying in Mallorca and Ibiza this summer already face paying double as much for the nightly tourist tax as opposed to the rate last year, when it was first introduced.
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