Last Call: Mallorca Cracks Down on Drinking in Palma, Bans Happy Hour
Enjoy your €5 mojito on Playa de Palma while you can — because, after April 1, the Mallorcan government is instating a new, strict drinking policy on the island.
The new rules affect specific areas in and around the island's capital city, Palma including Cala Major, Center, Paseo Maritimo and the entirety of Playa de Palma. The policies will also focus primarily on the "incitement" of alcohol consumption. Meaning that bars, restaurants and hotels will have to nix any and all of their drinking deals including happy hour or any two-for-one deals. Bars will also be banned from displaying alcohol on shelves.
Palma tourists will also be feeling the heat from the new policies as well. In fact, visitors can face fines up to €3,000 for "antisocial behavior" (like being a drunken mess, for example), or causing a public disturbance. Laws like these are nothing new to high-traffic tourist areas. In Italy, for example, Venice has nightly ban on public alcohol consumption after 7pm.
The new policies are also coming amid a discussion among the Balearic Islands on whether they should limit alcohol served as part of all-inclusive resort packages. “This proposed law will help crack down on antisocial drinking and the associated problems this brings," Bel Busquet, vice president and Balearic Island minister for innovation, research and tourism, told The Independent. “While we want visitors to enjoy their holidays, we want to endorse responsible drinking.”
However, this law, if passed, wouldn't come into effect until at least 2022.
Luckily, for now, the fun doesn't have to end completely. Hyatt rewards members visiting Mallorca can stay at the (TPG approved) Park Hyatt Mallorca. Located far outside of Palma, rest assured that happy hour isn't canceled there.
