Britons shun Magalluf, “it’s boring”

Magaluf has long been a wart on Mallorcas a**e. It's about time the authorities came down hard.

Another lecture from President Williams ?

I forgot to mention Spain’s first and only underwater tours by submarine, situated bang in the middle of Magalluf, by the looks of it a lot safer than the one currently in the news.

Mr Williams, as I have said previously, you are very good at putting words into people’s mouths. This is what I said about Benidorm. “On the other hand, Benidorm hasn’t done too badly with a right wing government ever since it’s inception as a tourist resort” I was defending a political position, NOT, as you are trying to convince your fans and readers, that Mallorca should adopt Benidorm’s tourist policy. My position about Magaluf remains the same. It was first to break ground as far as mass tourism for the younger generation was concerned. Pioneers always make mistakes, but you seem to forget that the pioneers were local politicians and businessmen not the clients. Of course there have been accidents and deaths and bad behaviour, but statistically far less than certain parts of Palma where one will never see a tourist from one year to the next. I know dozens of people, generally from European countries who endlessly critize Magalluf but have never actually been there. They conveniently forget that Mallorca’s first Go Kart track, Water Park and Casino were built on its outskirts, and places like Pirates and Katmandu actually in its centre. Say what you like but there never has been and never will be such a successful start up in Mallorca as Magalluf.

Hilarious, a well educated crowd could only collectively decide magaluf was the destination of their dreams.

Richard PearsonWell, it depends on what you consider "upscale". I believe it was you who recently suggested that Benidorm would be a good model for Mallorca 🧐 The very icon of 3*ish downmarket hi rise cookie cutter zero charm British tourist and pensioner paradise. And erm, ahem... the vast majority (and I mean VAST majority) of Mallorca isn't, and has no interest in becoming a backward, downmarket British enclave. As far as Magaluf goes, until recently, it's never been anything resembling "upscale". In the 2000's it was considered to be one of the most downmarket resorts on the island. Dominated by cheap 3* accommodation, nary a 4* to be found. Every year, some 40 kids would lose their lives for a variety of reasons, including alcohol and drug overdoses, and of course, balcony jumping. It wasn't until around 2016 that the hoteliers and the whole community started to say "enough!". On top of that, there was Brexit, and the hoteliers and the local government saw that as an opportunity to start to clean things up and attract a new, more respectable type of tourism. It's been a long difficult road, but with the millions of investment from hoteliers like Melia, lots of upgrading, new 4 and 5* offerings, new regulations inhibiting reckless excessive behaviours, and redirecting marketing toward more lucrative and upscale markets, it's finally beginning to pay off. It will take another 5 years or more, but I believe Magaluf (aka "Calvia Beach") has every potential to far outperform your rosy revisionist "upscale" version of its past that you would like to believe it was. But not without screaming from those living in the past. Yet it was unsustainable. Something had to change. Lastly, it's much too predictable to blame it all on bloody foreigners. A horribly tired, overused excuse. Best keep that one in your pants. It will come back to bite eventually. And frankly, take a look in the mirror. Surprise! You're a bloody foreigner yourself. Anyway, enjoy Benidorm. You happy. We happy. Everybody happy.

@ Morgan Williams Depends what you mean about “bad” reputation. BCM, for example, opened 35 years ago and quickly became world renowned, attracting visitors from all over Europe. Nobody complained then. The “strip” as it is known, had many upmarket bars, eateries and restaurants, and who can forget the “sling” which shot you into the air at backbreaking speeds. And Pirates. No, it all came crashing down when certain people, who shouldn’t be here in the first place started dealing in drugs, theft and prostitution. Blame the authorities, not the short term visitors. Ever wondered why San Francisco is no longer an upmarket tourist area ? There’s your answer.

You have to seriously question the mental state of women aged 45 to 70 going to Magaluf every year for 22 years. So many nice places in the world to go 🤷‍♂️Mind you I went to Northern Ireland a few years ago. OMG never again 🙈

Shame. :-)

Magaluf has been trying to shed its bad reputation and attract a better quality of tourist for some time now. This actually might help. Oh, and a couple of things: 1) Magaluf is hardly representative of "the island", and neither is the "buzz" that people get in magaluf. But most visitors there could be forgiven for not knowing that. 2) There is no visible similarity on "Playa de Palma", except for a 100 meter strip surrounding Megapark, where young Germans party themselves into oblivion, similar to the much larger and more famous drunken party zone of Punta Ballena. And Playa de Palma is what, about 50x the size of that little strip? And at least 10x the size of Punta Ballena. It appears you may be comparing elephants to fleas. But the diversion is understandable. There's quite a reputation/stereotype to overcome, and portraying everywhere else as much worse is one way to do that. It's actually a rather common British tabloid tactic. Or better yet... while any barriers to Brits being able to drink, shag, piss and shit themselves into oblivion is an atrocity, yet if anyone else goes into drunken stupor mode, it's a prime example of unchecked unsophisticated yob behaviour and something should be done about it. I love irony.