BOOZY holidays in the Balearics could soon become a thing of the past now that the regional government has outlawed all tourism and commercial activities that encourage excess drinking.
Cheap accommodation, flights and packages mean the islands' coasts are popular with young northern Europeans, typically groups of friends and often on one of their first holidays away from home, and the availability and inexpensive nature of alcohol creates a round-the-clock drinking culture in the spring and summer months in certain key resort towns.
Anti-social behaviour is usually rife in these areas at night in high season – vomiting, urinating and defecating in the streets, nudism, sexual acts in public, fights, noise and vandalism make life unpleasant for locals and lower the tone of the area, giving the Balearics an unjustifiably poor image as a bargain basement holiday destination.
In fact, the Balearic Islands are a huge hit with families, culture vultures, history and nature lovers, and have plenty to offer the discerning visitor at any time of year, but unfortunately, it has been the drunken antics of mostly-British young adults which have made international headlines.
The regional government has finally decided to take action to change all that.
Targeting the most tourist-heavy areas – Magaluf, Palma beach and the West End of San Antonio (Sant Antoni de Portmany) in Ibiza, authorities have passed a law which is described as 'pioneering in Europe': organised pub-crawls are now illegal, 'happy hours' and two-for-one and three-for-one promotions in bars are not permitted, automatic alcohol dispensers banned, shops prohibited from selling alcohol between 21.30 and 08.00, and hotels and restaurants are only allowed to let each customer have a maximum of three alcoholic drinks with a meal.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com