In his party's election manifesto, the new mayor of Palma, Jaime Martínez, referred to Palma being a pilot project for the rehabilitation of mature tourist resorts in Spain. During his campaign, he spoke of the need for investment to modernise the resort. "A project is required that really cares about making the change that the resort needs."
Previous mayors have made similar remarks, a difference with Martínez being that he is a former Balearic tourism minister. He was minister at the time of the notorious 'mamading' video in Magalluf. Investment in modernisation is one thing. Behaviour is another. From his time as minister, he knows only too well what this can mean. Perhaps he is the mayor to get to grips with the issues. But he needs to by working with the neighbouring town hall, as Arenal is a problem common to both authorities.
Alain Carbonell is the vice-president of the Arenal residents association. He knows first hand what goes on. "Tourists are drunk twenty-four hours a day. They start drinking in the morning. They continue at noon and all afternoon. At night they continue and at dawn, when bars have closed, they drink on the beach. They sleep on the street or on a bench for a couple of hours and then continue with the partying."
Young German tourists and Spanish students. These are the tourist profiles currently dominating Arenal. The students, thousands of them at a time, are a comparatively short-lived issue - three to four weeks. The German tourists are a different matter. Residents refer to how the season has been extended. "The drunken tourists now begin to come in March. The season has been extended, and for the worse." It's like there is a 24-hour party, seven days a week from March to September.
Miguel Pascual is a member of the residents association. He says that drunk foreigners enter his garden in seeking to take a shortcut to their hotels. There was one the other day. "I yelled at him to get out of the garden and when he turned round, I saw that his pants were full of faeces."
Flying visits - 24 or 48 hours - have become common, young Germans arriving with the sole intention of getting drunk. At night, hundreds of people are by the walls of the beach. Empty beer cans and vodka bottles are lined up on the walls, despite the fact that bins are nearby. Street cleaners start as early as 4am, but within a matter of hours all the rubbish returns, and this includes the remains of fast food scattered over the pavements. Seagulls feast on it.
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There is a certain irony here given only last week the bulletin ran an article celebrating and praising the apparent record setting consumption of beer at breakfast time by a group of tourists.
Earlier today, we took a walk from can pastilla all the way down to arenal... ...and not the slightest sign of any of this... ...until you get to the immediate vicinity of megapark, where you see lots of young people, drinking, more rubbish strewn around.. And no, it's not a particularly pretty sight. No doubt it's even worse at night. However, it's worth considering that this "problem area" amounts to about 1/10th the size of Punta Ballena, where this behaviour is quite common, day and night. And so yes, it should indeed be easier to "clean up" than Magaluf. Yes, we all know that it's "everybody else" unfairly blaming innocent Brits, so you need not bother going down that tired old road. But the reality on the ground seems to contradict the narrative. Still, I understand the defensive reaction. It's to be expected. Nonetheless, I suspect I'm not the only one who's not particularly keen on seeing more of this, or for it to accelerate, expand and become the norm, as some apparently would champion. Ok, they're in a very small minority, but at least it's entertaining to watch.
So bloody what if they're drunk all day? They are on holiday. We were all young once! It's the lack of respect shown by a small mindless minority that is the issue. Keep the area well policed, maintain the peace and make sure that the Guardia and local police are ready to clamp down on the small minority of troublemakers. Job done.
What a surprise. Not.
Been tried before and didn’t work. If they can’t, or don’t want to, deport illegals, who deal in illegal substances, from south of the border, how are they going to deport EU citizens ? Some people on this channel have suggested raising prices until they become unaffordable for the, as someone described them as “bottom dwellers”. My opinion is that this policy would hurt everybody, but I have been told, on several occasions, that I am wrong. On the plus side Mallorca is not the only place where this behaviour takes place.
To paraphrase the infamous words of Theresa May make Mallorca a “hostile environment” to these lager louts. That’ll cost though as it will mean arresting and deporting all who flout the rules in Arenal and Magalluf. If Mallorca doesn’t want to pay then the problem won’t go away. Words mean absolutely nothing, real and effective action is needed.