Mallorca restaurants bring in dress code to curb antisocial tourism
Eleven seaside restaurants on the Spanish island of Mallorca have introduced a dress code for patrons in an attempt to crack down on what they described as a recent wave of antisocial behaviour among drunk tourists.
In these restaurants, most of which are in the Playa de Palma, shirtless, costumed or football-jersey-clad punters will no longer be allowed, said Juan Miguel Ferrer of Palma Beach, a seal of quality created by local businesses to which the restaurants belong.
“What we’re trying to communicate, in some way, is the idea that to enter here you should go shower or change outfits,” he added. “You’re not going to come here in beach clothes or come straight from drinking in the streets.”
The move was prompted by the recent flood of tourists seemingly more interested in drinking than exploring the local gastronomy or the island’s charms, he said. “Since 10 May, we’ve been suffering the arrival of large groups of tourists who are only looking to get drunk in the streets, or on the seafront or even on the beach.”
He described the situation as worse than it had been in the years before the pandemic, calling it an “unfortunate reality”.
“They arrive at the hotels around 10am and by 2pm, they can’t even walk,” said Ferrer. “They are completely drunk and even their companions leave them lying on the sidewalk.”
A 2020 law that sought to clamp down on alcohol-fuelled tourism had so far made little difference, he said. Instead, he called for police to be granted the power to charge people on the spot for fines related to antisocial behaviour. “We need support from officials because neither entrepreneurs nor the neighbours can stop this,” said Ferrer.
A source in the regional government said that, due to the pandemic, this summer
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