Badly behaved Britons could be banned from the Balearic Islands under strict new proposals

Badly behaved British tourists face being banned from the Balearic Islands under controversial new proposals being studied by regional government leaders.

The island’s head of tourism, Jaume Bauza, appeared to confirm that holidaymakers who break strict rules put in place to tackle anti-social visitors could be blacklisted.

In early 2020, a decree on drunken tourism was agreed for certain areas such as Magaluf in Mallorca and the West End of San Antonio in neighboring Ibiza.

It included fines of up to £50,000 for holidaymakers caught jumping from their hotel balconies and limits on the amount of alcohol served with meals at all-inclusive hotels.

The new right-wing regional government of the Balearic Islands has already announced its intention to change the name of the decree against excessive tourism to that of the ‘responsible tourism’ decree to avoid negative connotations.

Holidaymakers who flout the rules can already be evicted from their hotels, including holidaymakers who jump between balconies in a dangerous practice known locally as ‘balconying’.

It also plans to eliminate the current situation where only some streets in certain resorts, including Magaluf and San Antonio, are covered by the rules, meaning action could potentially be taken against violators on any of the four islands that make up of the Balearic Islands.

But in a major announcement yesterday, Mr Bauza also appeared to admit that, as part of a package of tougher measures being prepared against anti-social visitors, a proposal to put some of them on planes home and ban them from visiting certain time to return, period is considered.

Holidaymakers who flout the rules can already be evicted from their hotels, including holidaymakers who jump between balconies in a dangerous practice known locally as ‘balconying’.

Speaking after a meeting yesterday of the Commission for the Promotion of Citizenship in Tourist Zones with representatives of the four municipalities affected by the current decree on excessive tourism, the island’s head of Tourism confirmed that the idea of ​​a blacklist is being considered .

When asked by local press whether the tougher action the government was planning against antisocial tourists included the possibility of expulsion from the islands and a ban on return for a certain period, Bauza said this would depend on the “crime or offense that has been committed’. ‘

Explaining that it would be ‘addressed in the decree’, he was quoted by the respected island newspaper Diario de Ibiza as saying: ‘I have expressed the main points and nothing is being ruled out or confirmed at this stage.

‘Then a legal framework will be needed.

“The most important thing is that we also focus on companies, but especially on the people who behave in a way that is intolerable, here and everywhere.”

The party resorts of Magaluf (pictured above) and part of Playa de Palma east of the island’s capital, which is also one of the areas covered by the decree on excessive tourism, have been rocked this summer by several alleged sexual attacks involving foreign tourists were involved, including gang rape.

The party resorts of Magaluf and part of Playa de Palma east of the island’s capital, which is also one of the areas covered by the decree on excessive tourism, have been rocked this summer by several alleged sexual attacks involving foreign tourists, including gang rape.

A British 18-year-old was allegedly raped in a hotel in Magaluf in the early hours of August 14.

Five French nationals and one Swiss national were arrested and remanded in custody pending an ongoing judicial investigation, and a further two suspects were subsequently detained in France on European arrest warrants.

The incidents put the spotlight on resorts such as the British-popular Magaluf, which has tried to improve its international image in recent years.

Prostitutes and some pickpockets have been granted restraining orders by the court banning them from setting foot in Magaluf, so taking measures to declare certain individuals ‘personas non grata’ is not new in the area.

Any attempt by the Balearic government to blacklist anti-social tourists will clash with EU free movement law, with the holidaymakers coming from EU member states.

Although the right-wing Popular Party won the May elections in the Balearic Islands, Spain’s left-wing caretaker Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez currently has the best chance of forming a national coalition government that would exclude the right.

In August, it emerged that four of the five tourists given five-figure fines this summer for climbing between balconies at hotels in Magaluf were British.

The groundbreaking crackdown on excessive tourism put an end to pub crawls, happy hours and 2×1 cheap drink deals in areas like Magaluf and San Antonio’s West End

The municipality of Calvia, responsible for the party resort, said on August 21 that five foreign holidaymakers had been fined for ‘balcony use’.

The five were each fined €36,000 (£30,720) and evicted from their hotels.

The fines were imposed under a regional government decree aimed at eradicating drunken tourism and passed just over three years ago.

Earlier the same month, a company that offered British holidaymakers illegal booze cruises in Magaluf was fined almost £140,000 under the same decree.

Council chiefs in charge of the Mallorca party resort said company bosses were caught red-handed when they escorted around 130 tourists, who had paid almost £40 each, to a boat where loud music would be played and alcohol offered.

The groundbreaking crackdown on excessive tourism put an end to pub crawls, happy hours and cheap 2-for-1 drink deals in areas such as Magaluf and San Antonio’s West End.

The concession of new permits for ‘party boats’ was also suspended, with boats that already had a permit no longer being allowed to embark or disembark tourists in the affected areas.

The new mayor of Calvia, Juan Antonio Amengual, said earlier this month, after it emerged that the ‘exclusion’ of certain areas that critics of the regional government decree have complained about would be halted: ‘What you notice at the moment is that on the one hand from the street you have the strict rules and on the other side you don’t.

“We want everything to be the same.”