Every summer Magaluf (Mallorca, Spain) turns into a paradise for British youngsters who want to party as much as they can for as little money as possible. Nowadays the situation has gotten out of control and Magaluf is suffering from a severe negative image. Before addressing the problem it is important to understand the causes which lead to this āparty paradiseā, currently notorious as a place called āShagalufā. It all relates to the time of the Franco regime, when a massive tourism and real-estate boom took place in Spain, between the 1950s and 1970s (Yrigoy, 2014). In this period of time large scale construction of hotels and real estate changed the landscape of Magaluf for good (Rullan, 2002). The neoliberalism approach of the Spanish government during this period of time lead to drunk British tourists nowadays taking advantage of Magaluf and turning it into the negative image of āShagalufā, causing many problems for the destination.
The evolution of Magaluf into a party hotspot is a direct result of the economic and political shifts from the time of the Franco regime. The Spanish state had a large share in the development of Magaluf, by means of creating a āpro-tourismā approach. The biggest motivational factor for this new approach was the threat of economic collapse. This lead to the change of laws and policies. For one thing, the foreign investment law changed in 1959, which decreased limitations for foreign involvement. However, the massive foreign investment really came off the ground with the introduction of the Economic Stabilization Plan, which was the determinant leading to a ādeveloping mentalityā (Yrigoy, 2014).
Also influences from outside of Spain lead to the creation of mass-tourism in Magaluf. For instance, the anti-communist regimes of the US government lead to a political agreement between Spain and the United States in 1953. This was seen as a political push that integrated Spain into the western world and came along with an economic boom backed up by the USA. After this, it didnāt took much time for the foreign tourism industry to become fundamental for the Spanish economic policy (Yrigoy, 2014).
Due to the neoliberal approach, nowadays many pubs and bars established in Magaluf, providing alcohol for cheap prices. This is causing many problems, including alcohol poisoning, extreme violence, sexual games and in some cases even death. Numbers from the Foreign Office show that per week ten British tourists in Mallorca and Ibiza get into accidents and end up in the hospital as a result of heavy drinking sessions. In 2012 there was a 132 per cent rise in hospital cases in Mallorca and before the summer even started that year already three British young tourists died in Magaluf, falling off balconies or falling down deep stairwells (Reid, 2012).
The situation in Magaluf negatively influences local inhabitants, authorities and workers of the tourism industry. One major problem is that there is simply not enough police and ambulance personnel to manage all the violence and tourists getting hurt due to the excessive drinking (Coldwell, 2015). But also the wellbeing of the local inhabitants should be taken into consideration, as they are an important stakeholder of the tourism destination as well and they might suffer from the behavior of the British youngsters (Borhnhorst et. al, 2009). Finally, also locals working at the tourism industry of Magaluf get affected by this issue. A documentary showed stories of hotel staff that had to clean up damaged and filthy hotel rooms or even got traumatized after seeing tourists falling of balconies and dying in front of them (BBC, 2013).
The current negative āpartyā-image of Magaluf leads to the fact that other wanted target markets may refuse to go there. In contrary, one might argue the fact that in the eyes of the British party tourists the image is rather correct and positive. Nonetheless, regarding the new regulations, a spokesman of the town hall mentioned the wish to improve the image of Magaluf as a tourist destination, for national and international markets (The Telegraph, 2015). However, changing a destinationās image isnāt very easy. Besides, it is important to not only improve the image (cosmetic approach), but also to change the reality which caused the image problem in the first place, which in theory is called a āstrategic approachā (Avraham & Ketter, 2013).
Recently, the town hall introduced new strict regulations in an attempt to solve the problems. Proposals were for example regulations amongst pub crawls and a law prohibiting buying alcohol between midnight and 8 am. Also fines were introduced for anyone taking part in the so called ābalconingā; a dangerous activity of jumping from one balcony to another, which leads to many deaths every year. Furthermore, the police got the authority to take drinks from tourists on the street. However, until now it isnāt clear if this had much effect, as interviews amongst British tourists show that they will most likely keep drinking and also bar owners admit they will keep doing business as usual, as it provides their income (McVeigh, 2015).
Due to political and economical developments from the past, Magaluf grew out to a party hotspot amongst British youngsters. Cheap alcohol prices lead to excessive drinking which often results in extreme violence, accidents and in the most severe cases even to death. It may be clear that this destination is suffering from a seriously bad image, which is also shown by the obtained nickname āShagalufā. When looking at the image of all the stakeholders, in this case it is clearly the tourists who draw the longest straw. Local inhabitants and employees cannot handle the situation properly and definitely do not benefit from the loud partying tourists. The town hall of Magaluf wants to address the critical problems and wants to improve the destinationās image. For this purpose, several measurements have been taken into action already, including a drinking ban between midnight and 8 am. Future research should determine whether these measurements were effective and which is the best way to improve the image of Magaluf. However, it should be taken into account that when tour operators in the UK keep selling this party packages to the young tourists and when the clubs and pubs maintain selling alcohol for cheap prices, the British party tourists will continue to travel to Magaluf.
References
Avraham, E., & Ketter, E. (2013). Marketing Destinations with Prolonged Negative Images: Towards a Theoretical Model. In Tourism Geographies. Routledge.
Bornhorst, T., Brent Ritchie, J., & Sheehan, L. (2009). Determinants of tourism succes for DMOs & destinations: An empirical examination of stakeholders' perspectives. In Tourism Management 31. Elsevier.
Coldwell, W. (2015, June 8). Magaluf crackdown: Spanish authorities call time on drinking in the street. Retrieved on Oktober 1, 2016, from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2015/jun/08/ magaluf-crackdown-spanish-authorities-call-time-on-drinking-in-the-street
BBC (director). (2013). The truth about Magaluf [Film].
McVeigh, T. (2015, April 18). Magalufās days of drinking and casual sex are numbered ā or so Mallorca hopes. Retrieved on Oktober 1, 2016, from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2015/apr/18/ vodka-sex-magaluf-tourists-spain-mallorca-shagaluf
Reid, S. (2012, August 1). An excess of drinks, drugs... and death: Magaluf is notorious for bingeing by British teenagers, but now the results are proving fatal. Retrieved on Oktober 1, 2016, from dailymail: http:// www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2181830/Magaluf-notorious-binging-British-teenagers-results-proving- fatal.html
Rullan, O. (2002). In La construcciĆ³ territorial de Mallorca. Palma: Editorial Moll.
The Telegraph. (2015, March 6). Magaluf laws ban drinking on the streets. Retrieved on Oktober 1, 2016, from The Telegraph: Travel Destinations: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/spain/ majorca/news/Magaluf-laws-ban-drinking-on-the-streets/
Yrigoy, I. (2014). Economies of Tourism Destinations: The production of tourist spaces as a spatial fix. In Tourism Geographies: An International Journal of Tourism Space, Place and Environment. Routledge.
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