Zero tolerance for boozers on Mallorca’s beaches

The city of Palma de Mallorca in Spain is seeking to regain control of its beaches from hordes of unruly tourists who indulge in binge drinking, German media reported.

Mallorca is the largest of the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean and attracts about 10 million tourists each year who swamp the local island populace of some 780,000 people (nearly half of whom live in the capital of Palma).

The last weekend in June saw the introduction of a curfew on outdoor drinking between 10 pm and 1 am. It will be enforced along Palma’s beachfront between Balneario (beach bars) number 5 and 6.

The curfew is to run until 1 September this year. But worse is to come: next year, the city council plans to implement a 24 hour curfew on outdoor drinking across the whole town, following complaints from residents about noise and disorderly behaviour.

A further measure will be to ban serving alcohol in buckets. Yes, you read correctly. Twenty years ago in the district known as Balneario number 6, the “bucket and straw” was invented. In the local bars groups of holidaymakers were presented with a mix of spirits and fruit juices served in a large metal or plastic bucket together with long drinking straws so that they could imbibe the cocktail communally.

The council hopes that by prohibiting outdoor drinking the city will attract a better quality of tourists. In the past tanked-up tourists were a sight to behold, vomiting in front of other visitors, and leaving rubbish, cigarette ends and beer bottles strewn around on the sand.

According to UK media, the major culprits are not British. Strange, but true. Austrians top the list as worst offenders, followed by Germans with the British in third place.