Britain’s ambassador to Spain urges British holidaymakers in Magaluf to ‘show responsibility’ after Mallorca’s crackdown on booze-fuelled tourists

The British ambassador to Spain has urged British holidaymakers in Magaluf to ‘show responsibility’ amid Mallorca’s crackdown on booze-fuelled tourists.

Hugh Elliott said British tourists should remember they were guests during their stay at the party resort.

During a visit yesterday to Calvia, which includes Magaluf, to announce the ‘Stick With Your Mates’ campaign for responsible drinking, the diplomat said: ‘In general, we all want responsibility.

‘We all want to have a good time during the holidays, especially young people.

‘This is about understanding what responsibility means, responsibility as guests, because we are foreigners here in Spain and Calvia guests, it is about knowing how to behave with responsibility and have fun.

‘Tourism here is a form of tourism where the destination is appreciated.’

Elliott’s visit to Mallorca came less than a week after regional government leaders announced a tightening of restrictions aimed at curbing drunken tourism, including the forced overnight closure of shops selling alcohol and fines of up to £1,300 for people caught on alcohol abuse. the street.

The original alcohol measures, adopted in 2020, included limits on the number of free drinks package holidays could offer, as well as new rules on public nudity and climbing over hotel balconies.

But under revised plans unveiled by the conservative Partido Popular government, while the areas where drinking restrictions are in place have been reduced, it is now illegal to drink on the streets in those areas.

These new measures were fully supported by the mayor of Calvia, Juan Antonio Amengual, who stated that they would make the island a safer place for everyone to enjoy.

The new laws will be in effect until at least December 2027.

Mr Elliott said the key to the ‘Stick With Your Mates’ campaign, first launched in July 2019 by the British Embassy in Madrid and the British Consulate in Palma, with big help from the friend of a Scottish bar worker who spent six died years ago in a The fall of Magaluf had ‘a good time, but stayed safe.’

He said: ‘We have seen that in the vast majority of cases where young people have had accidents, sometimes fatal accidents, it is because they have been alone. Hence the message ‘Stick with your friends’, because it is a way in which holidaymakers can protect themselves and avoid problems.’

Mr Elliott met Calvia’s mayor Juan Antonio Amengual during his visit and afterwards they held a meeting with some business associations active in the area.

The town hall said afterwards: ‘Last year ended in Magaluf with no deaths from falls from hotels or apartments.

“The campaign that is now being resumed aims, in short, to maintain this record among the thousands of young people who are already starting to arrive in Magaluf.”

Georgia Haag started her own ‘Don’t Leave a Friend Behind’ campaign after Natalie Cormack died in April 2018 in the infamous Eden Roc apartment block in Magaluf, where two other Britons died.

The 19-year-old, from West Kilbride, Ayrshire, lay undiscovered for several hours after she lost her balance trying to enter the flats and fell the equivalent of seven floors as she made her way along an overhang after being discovered that she was locked up. out.

Georgia, from Welwyn Garden City, Herts, also played a key role in a ‘Stick With Your Mates’ campaign at the launch to raise awareness among young tourists about the importance of looking out for each other.

A video of her went viral and is said to have helped prevent further deaths and accidents.

Business owners in Magaluf told MailOnline earlier this week that they were fed up with the behavior of drunken British tourists and wanted to see more families at the resort.

The changes announced last Friday to an existing 2020 regional government decree, introduced to curb some of the worst tourism excesses, have been marketed as part of a package of new measures intended to promote ‘responsible tourism’ in the areas covered by the legislation, including Magaluf’s infamous Punta Ballena strip.

There was already a ban on street drinking and a nighttime ban on the sale of alcohol in shops.

Local media that reported on the ‘groundbreaking’ 2020 decree four years ago claimed at the time: ‘The party is over. The Government of the Balearic Islands has adopted these rules to put an end to the excesses of alcohol abuse in tourist areas.’

It comes after a series of repressive actions on several other Spanish islands in the fight against overcrowding and huge spikes in tourism.

Last week, a holiday village in Menorca called ‘Spanish Mykonos’ threatened to ban all tourists after previously telling them they could only visit between 11am and 8pm so they could enjoy their breakfast.

Ibiza also became the latest Spanish hotspot for holidaymakers to join the growing anti-tourism protests that have erupted across the country.

Protests have also been seen in other popular destinations such as Tenerife, where angry locals even went on hunger strike in an attempt to express their anger.

In Menorca, graffiti telling tourists to ‘go home’ has appeared on walls, as well as on stickers with the slogan ‘Don’t tag this beach, b**ch!’ have been spotted around beach entrances in an attempt to stop locals from sharing the island’s most beautiful spots on social media.

Last year, the tires of cars with British license plates were slashed in Marbella.

On April 20, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the Canary Islands to protest the problems caused by mass tourism and demand that their politicians take action.

The demonstrators chanted the slogan: ‘Canarias Tiene un limite’, which translates into English as ‘The Canary Islands have a limit.’

Two weeks ago, the same words appeared painted in white on the asphalt of one of the access roads to Mount Teide in Tenerife.

Another message painted on the road read: ‘Moratoria turistica’ – ‘Tourism moratorium’ in English.’