On Tuesday, there is to be a protest against the closure of bars, restaurants, clubs and shops on Punta Ballena in Magalluf. The closure was ordered because these establishments sell alcohol. A combination of the Balearic government's tourism of excesses decree and Covid-19 health measures prompted the order, a not uncommon view being that the health measures provided the government with the pretext for enforcing the decree in this way.
Antonio Moreno has had a small supermarket for 45 years. "My sin is to have a business on Punta Ballena. They forced me to close and then they allowed me to stay open after I removed all the alcohol for sale." He questions the sense of the order. "There are other businesses which are similar to mine. They are just a few metres away and they sell alcohol at all hours, because their address is not Punta Ballena. Can anyone explain this to me?" He believes that the government has merely put a patch on the wound and that tourist bad behaviour won't just go away.
Youssef Almassati, who has owned a clothes shop on Punta Ballena for five years, is of a similar view. "The bars have closed, and so the tourists have gone elsewhere." For this summer, he had rented the premises next door in order to expand his business. "First the coronavirus and now the closure. And in October it'll all end. I don't know what will become of us this winter."
Vino, who has had a souvenir shop for five years, says that he has an employee on ERTE. His wife, who always did a few hours in the afternoon, stays at home. "There isn't a job for even one person. I spend the day sitting in front of the shop. They (tourists) used to buy t-shirts and souvenirs. Now it is a desert. Would it not have been better to have put more police on the streets at the required hours rather than close the bars?"
The president of the Palmanova-Magalluf Hoteliers Association, Mauricio Carballeda, insists that the "tourism of excesses had to be stopped". "Visitors looking for alcohol and debauchery are not welcome." But Pepe Tirado, president of the Acotur tourist businesses association, is critical of the government's "arbitrary" decision, one that was not discussed with businesses. Employers and workers are not giving up the fight, he stresses, and so on Tuesday there will be the demand for the "right to work".
The protest is scheduled for 18.00 on Tuesday. The closure order, it should be noted, applies to two other streets in Magalluf as well - General García Ruiz y Federico García Lorca.
4 comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
The youth of the UK &Germany have got a lot to answer for this also the bar and club owners who are only interested in one thing and that MONEY stop BARS AND CLUBS only then the YOUTH will NOT come and the ordinary tourist will still be able to shop AND eat
Kim, you are wasting your time. The know all’s, who probably have independent incomes and wouldn’t know how to point out Magaluf on a map and DEFINTELY have never been there, don’t agree and that’s that. You and I know you are right.
will the Bulletin please keep us updated as to how much Melia will be fined for the Nikki Beach illegal party. Being a major supporter of getting rid of the strip I suspect the fine will be nowhere near the 300,000€ limit...probably more like 5€.
Hope there will be room for all kinds of shops and all kinds of people on Mallorca.Let the party life live in Magalluf, and the slow life everywhere else on the Island. They will just end up killing tourist life on the Island with that politics. Have seen it happen in other places. When the kill the party, tourist just don't come. Shops will close and house prices will go down.Mallorca is in a perfekt synergy. Don't let old angry people get their will.