Tourists visiting Spanish islands face fines of up to €1500 under toughened-up law to curb boozy holidays
10 May 2024, 17:22
Spain’s Balearic Islands are toughening up laws on street drinking and party boats in a bid to crack down on anti-social behaviour in tourist hotspots.
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The stronger rules, based on legislation from 2020, will apply to tourist hotspots such as Playa de Palma, Magaluf in Majorca and Sant Antoni in Ibiza.
Under the expanded law, which comes into force on Saturday, people caught drinking outside of authorised areas could be fined between €500-1,500 (£430-1290).
There will also be a total ban on the sale of alcohol between 9:30pm and 8am in certain areas, such as Magaluf, Llucmajor, and Palma, the Majorca Daily Bulletin reported.
The ban will be in place until at least December 2027, according to reports.
The rules will also aim to toughen up pre-existing rules against party boats, as they will be banned from getting closer than one nautical mile (1.852km) of the designated areas.
It will remain prohibited to pick up or disembark passengers.
The number of sanctions taken against foreigners will be counted and submitted to the respective embassies.
Luis Pomar, a press officer at the Balearic Islands Tourism Council, said it is hoped the stricter rules will help curb anti-social behaviour.
He told the BBC he hopes that the law will no longer be needed “in three to four years, if we instil in people how to behave”.
Mr Pomar also said a commission on "the Promotion of Civility in Tourist Zones" would be expanded to include representatives of the countries whose tourists are most associated with problems - the UK and Germany.
The areas the law applies to have been modified at the request of the local authorities, the Balearic Islands said.
Up to €16 million will also be spent on improving tourist hotspots in the region.
When the law was first introduced in 2020, the regional government said it was the first in Europe to restrict the promotion and sale of alcohol in select tourist zones.
It comes after the mayor of Majorca’s capital, Palma, introduced plans for new sanctions for bad behaviour in some of the area’s biggest holiday hotspots in the coming months.
He said one of his main goals of the new Ordinance is to “correct uncivil attitudes” in the area - which applies to holidaymakers as well as locals.
The new Civic Ordinance, which is due to come into force in the next couple of months, could see offenders hit with fines of up to €3,000 depending on the severity of the breach.
Its rules will include a ban on drink parties in public places, graffiti, scooters as well as nudism and semi-nudism.
