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Palma.—The president of the association Jesus Sanchez, says the parties held on boats and catamarans bring a bad image to the island “because of the negative behaviour of the participants, most of themBritish”.

Tourists as well as local residents enjoy this type of excursion, where they party on an often all inclusive regime for up to eight hours.
But the problem, according to Sanchez is that most boats “operate illegally.” “Some 80% of the boats have no legal documentation and there is no control over them.Tours can go from 3.30pm until 11.00 pm. Usually tourists get picked up from Palmanova and Magalluf, since that is where the majority of their clients, the British, are staying. “Neighbours have been complaining that when boats come to shore to pick them up or drop them off, the noise is a major problem, not to speak about the degrading and shameful state some of them find themselves in. This affects tourism reputation in those areas.” The Port Authority has ran some checks on the islands and found out that 32 of the 34 boats inspected failed to provide the necessary documentation, although since then, 16 of them have started the process to run their activity in a legal manner. “We demand that companies are informed that they need to be regulated. That is why we have opened so many investigations this Summer. Everyone agrees that we need to control and regulate this activity,” said Antonio Deudero general director of the Port Authority.

Party boats are a popular attraction for tourists, who usually pay between 30 and 45 euros and can drink as much as they want on board.