Editorial: Magalluf

A Magalluf  media storm has hit Britain but it hardly makes a line in any of the local newspapers. So why is the British media giving Magalluf banner headlines while the local media is not showing much interest? It is a good question. The crackdown launched by the local authorities in Magalluf, including a curfew on drinking alcohol on the streets and new measures to “control” pub crawls have taken the British media by storm after the Spanish Tourist Board in London issued a press statement last week. Now, these measures are nothing new to us here on the island, they have been reported and commented on for the last three months. But in Britain they are big news. We have received countless calls from the British media who are rather amazed to hear that the new measures have hardly caused a ripple in Majorca. Well perhaps the local media is being rather sceptical. We have been promised crackdowns before which have had little or no affect. I have been told by some bars owners in Magalluf that the situation is as bad as ever, and little or nothing has improved. I was interviewed  on Spanish radio yesterday about Magalluf and the reaction in the British media. I said that until all parties come together from bar owners to hoteliers to tour firms to pub crawl operators and agree on a strategy for the future, I can´t see much improvement in Magalluf. Magalluf does not have a single problem, it has many from street prostitutues to bad behaviour.