The mayor of one of the top tourist hotspots in Majorca has said that undercover police officers have been deployed to crackdown on binge-drinking in the area.
The mayor of Calvia, which includes Magaluf, has hinted that he has fears the Balearic Islands' rules could drive Britons away from what has always been a beloved party destination.
Partygoers in tourist hotspots including Magaluf, Llucmajor and Palma in Majorca now face fines of up to £1,300 for drinking in the street, while party boats have been banned from certain areas and shops selling alcohol must close at 9.30pm.
Mayor Juan Antonio Amengual has stressed to the Daily Mail that tourists are still welcome to the region.
Tourists on the Magaluf strip
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He said: "My message is all the British are really welcome in Calvia, that is very important...It's not the same message you have heard in the other government.
"We have improved [by using] undercover police and it was one of the good measures that has stopped a lot of the prostitution and the sale of drugs. It was very important.
"We want the people to enjoy [their holidays] with respect between tourists and the residents...This situation now is creating 'tourism-phobia' coming from these behaviours from some tourists, not all tourists."
It comes after the president of the Balearics, Marga Prohens, said the islands "have reached their limit" while last year Majorca's director of tourism, Lucia Escribano, said they were "not interested in budget tourists from the UK."
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The tourist hotspot is cracking down on excessive drinking
PA
It comes after the Balearic Islands toughened its 2020 legislation on excessive tourism.
The Government has committed €16million towards enforcing the street drinking ban as well as on security, inspections and educating tourists on what is classed as "excessive tourism."
Partygoers in Palma, Llucmajor, Magaluf and San Antonio in Ibiza now face penalties of between €500 and €1,500 if their street drinking "disrupts coexistence, involves crowds or deteriorates the tranquillity of the environment."
Party boats are no longer permitted to get closer than one nautical mile (1.852 km) of the designated areas and they have been banned from picking up or dropping off passengers.
Mayor Amengual added: "The British people and the Majorcan people and the Spanish people, we live together and I don't want to see a problem of this.
"My dream or what I want is Magaluf to become a destination of day activity and night activity but how it's been always - not focus the problem in one street and one problem.
"We have worked very hard to remove the name of Magaluf. In the past, they tried to change the name of Magaluf to the Calvia Beach - but now it's not this way. We want to protect the word "Magaluf" like Ibiza, like Majorca as a brand is a big brand."
