The six-drink rule that will make or break Magaluf
“It’s outrageous. How dare they restrict me to six pints!” slurs Rob, as he takes another slug from his tenth.
Rob is the “victim” (his word) of a law imposed by the Balearic Government that limits tourists at all-inclusive resorts in places such as Magaluf to six drinks a day, served at lunch and dinner (three each). He’s frothing with indignation (not to mention lager), but at 19 can perhaps be forgiven for not knowing the backstory of the infamous Mallorcan resort town – which encompasses both the silly and the sobering. For every titillating tabloid tale (a woman who woke up with the names of seven new friends tattooed on her hip after a night out here in 2014), there's a darker chapter too – only last week a British man fell to his death from the balcony of his seventh-floor hotel room.
When I flew in last Friday though, all seemed peaceful and pleasant. Despite the fact that half the stag and hen groups on my 7.10am out of Luton were already well into their six-drink allocation by the time we landed, the indolence-inducing Balearic sun was working its edge-softening magic. In the cafés, bars and beach clubs – even those named after such iconic English exports as Prince William, Gary Lineker and Benny Hill – the sangria and San Miguels were being sipped rather than chugged.
Holiday-makers are good-naturedly ignoring any efforts to damp down their consumption – and so are bar staff. At one hotel I visit, the barman confirms that guests on all-inclusive packages are limited to three drinks at a time, “but you can always come back a few minutes later, and I probably won’t recognise you”. At the beachside Happy House café, meanwhile (where the menu features such local delicacies as “Man-sized T-bone”, “Giant Yorkshire Puddings” and “Pint lager only 2 EUR”), the waitress, Angel, shrugs Spanishly: “It’s people’s holiday! The government has been talking about cracking down for years, but this is Spain! Anyway, this six-drink thing in resorts is about money not behaviour – guests can have more than six, they just have to pay for them. Or they can come here, to Happy House, and drink, because that rule is just in hotels anyway.”
In fact, the edict only applies within the strict city limits of Magaluf, which means half the town’s hotels are excluded anyway. The six-drink limit was actually in place during the pandemic (though Thomas Cook has now started warning people about it), but the new law passed in February has a wider remit, in a move towards more sustainable tourism. As well as no new hotels being built for four years, “They’ve banned ‘aggressive’ drinks offers,” explains Nicky Smith, General Manager of the Alex’s complex, a set of bars and clubs on the town’s main Strip. “So no 2-for-1s, no free drinks, no free bars. It’s better for business because we’re putting money in the till, and it’s not that bad for customers either because they weren’t really free shots: they were half-shots and only the cheap, sweet stuff. We’d hide the good spirits! It’s better for the town, too, because of the more upmarket clientele.”
Speaking about the law, Balearic Islands Tourism minister Iago Negueruela said: “We want British tourists. We don't want this type of tourism. British tourism is essential for our islands. We share with the British government the view that some images of British tourists are embarrassing.”
Looking around me – it’s now 10.30pm, and the Strip is in full swing – I’d hate to meet the more downmarket clientele. True, there’s nothing X-rated on show, but a hundred-strong scrum of hedonists are drinking, smoking, snorting, scoffing, stumbling, stripping, snogging, sleeping, relieving themselves, exposing themselves and abusing themselves in a street-long, street-wide carnival of mid-level debauchery.
And that, as they say, is a good night. Before the new rules, Smith says, I’d have seen “kids getting free shots, free jugs, free beer, €5 for 4 beers — they’d be legless by 11 and still carrying on until 6am”. So far tonight, he adds proudly, “We’ve only had one scuffle. And no one even got hurt!”
Just a few yards off the Strip, at Oceans, you can actually taste the future that Magaluf’s civic leaders envisage (and other tourist-ravaged locales, from Bali to Benidorm are looking to, to see if it will work). Here, a “high gastronomy restaurant” and “harmonious cocktail lounge bar” serve up some very good fare – though even its own staff are sceptical about the new city ordinances. “It just means people are pre-drinking in their hotel rooms,” reckons Colly, manning the door tonight. “And if the booze gets pricier, people will take more drugs.” (I was, indeed, quite pleased that I looked young enough to be plied by street sellers with “Coke? Ecstasy? MDMA? Weed?” – but disappointed when I was then offered “Viagra?”)
So will Magaluf change? The next day I find myself at Hotel Florida, a lovely laidback place with a breezy, hammock-strewn rooftop deck and a noticeably more grown-up, discerning crowd. At the bar – getting no more than three drinks each – are four elegant 30-something mums from around Glasgow. “If anything,” says Nicola, “it’s encouraged us to binge-drink, as you’ve to squeeze your drinking in while it’s free at lunchtime.”
“People are going to do what they’re going to do,” nods Susanne. “Making it slightly more expensive for them to get drunk isn’t going to stop them.”
“Aye,” agrees Nadine, with one glass of Cava in each hand.
