Attracting a mellower type of tourist will require much more than just prohibitions
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskThe most recent new rules dictate that all-inclusive resorts in the noisiest swathes of the island may provide guests with no more than six drinks a day—three of them at lunchtime, and a maximum of three at night. Revellers in the affected zones, which include Magaluf, Majorca’s grimmest party town, have had to sayto organised pub crawls and happy-hour drinks deals.
These draconian regulations in fact came into effect in 2020, but until now have largely flown under the radar because of quieter-than-normal tourist seasons resulting from the pandemic. How far they are reckoned to have irked tourists this year is therefore an important test. Many locals, at least, seem relieved. It is “about time”, says one.
Yet attracting a mellower type of tourist will require much more than just prohibitions. Last year Magaluf, famous for its cavernous nightclubs, launched an annual literary festival. Irvine Welsh, author of “Trainspotting”, showed up. This season the city is promoting a weekend “hippy market” . This looks a lot like an effort to replicate similar bazaars on the somewhat more fashionable island of Ibiza, which attract thousands of free spirits every year.
Majorca has long thirsted for a better class of layabout. When it opened in 1903 the Gran Hotel, a modernist mansion in the heart of Palma, the capital, promised rich loafers comforts unattainable anywhere else on the island. It closed decades ago. Perhaps the latest projects will do a more lasting job of getting Majorca’s seediest spots smartened up.Europe