This was confirmed this today by the heads of the Playa Palma Hotel Association (AHPP) at the presentation of the final balance of the season.
Its president, Isabel Vidal, and its vice-president, José Antonio Fernández de Alarcón, denounced the fact that “there is no real political will” to put an end to the problems of security and uncivil behaviour that plague the area.
As they have pointed out, they are concentrated in just ten blocks, the epicentre of the conflictive episodes in the Arenal for years. “There have been zero precautionary measures executed; none of our complaints have received a firm resolution,” complained Alarcón.
The AHPP even hired a private detective who in nine days recorded up to 812 infractions of the regulations, which is a good indication, they have pointed out, to the lack of control that is rampant in an area ignored as far as inspection and police surveillance is concerned.
The deputy managers of the hotels themselves have even acted as inspectors, providing video and photographs to the administration, which in the end have not resulted in any action being taken.
Likewise, the association is not aware of any ex officio intervention on the part of any inspector from the relevant bodies, the General Directorates of Public Health and Tourism, as well as Palma Local Police.
Added to this is the fact that, unlike Calvia, home to Magalluf, the Palma Town Hall does not have the power to close down establishments that do not comply with the regulations, and has not requested it. Alarcón has regretted this, and says he does not understand why he claimed these powers, as did his neighbours in Calvià.
This lack of control has been clearly noted by the offenders - uncivil customers, ticket touts, street vendors... - this season, which has been the first in which the regulations have been enforced after two summers of the pandemic; the problem will end up getting out of hand if it persists next season.
“If in the second year the bad guys realise that we are useless, that’s it”.
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Stephen GrimmerI'm not convinced it's "xenophobic". I sense it's simply reassurance that Britain is still bigger and better than everybody else. British tabloids have been pushing that line for decades. As if it's a competition, which naturally, Britain always wins (yet since there's no actual competition, whether it does actually "win" or not is irrelevant). And as Britain's descent into irrelevance accelerates, naturally it's more fashionable than ever. And it's no secret that this theme is what current British politics depend on to stay in power. I need not list the hundreds of post-brexit examples of such egregious alternate reality narratives spewed by politicians and their media pals ...as a matter of public record. Although there's some signs that many in the electorate just aren't buying it anymore. I doubt the current UK government would survive a general election now. But any next government would also be hard pressed to be "victorious" too. So perhaps it's probably time to get real and forget about national pride, and focus on fixing it. Unfortunately, any political party that adopted such an approach probably wouldn't ever be elected. So, bring in the next contestant...
Amazingly the story bears hardly any relationship to the "sensationalist" (and xenophobic) headline. You might note that over a dozen German volunteer firemen spent several months in jail for alleged arson (facing multi-year sentences) recently because an entirely different person was caught on camera trying to douse a bamboo roof they may have flicked a cigarette onto, with beer to stop it smouldering.
How come they allow Germans to have fun, but punish Brits for it? Gotta be a Brexit punishment.
Until there are more police with real power of arrest noting will happen.
Both of these resort urbanization towns need to be closed down. Major penalties and huge fines are imposed on all businesses that are contributing to their disgraceful uses.