SPANISH ISLAND SET TO PENALISE NUDE TOURISTS

ANYONE CAUGHT topless could be made to pay up to $3,500 PEOPLE HAVING SEX on the street or performing sex acts in public will be fined

Madrid, July 17: It’s better to pack an outfit a little less revealing if you are planning a trip to the holiday island of Mallorca in Spain.

In the island’s capital, Palma, authorities are fighting “the tourism of excesses,” by cracking down on public nudity, drinking, sex acts and anti-social behaviour.

A new list of rules and regulations will encourage tourists to “act responsibly,” or face heavy fines.

“This does not solve all the problems, but gives the police tools to work with,” said Angelica Pastor, Palma’s councilor for security.

The new measures follow similar regulations introduced in 2017 in Magaluf, the island’s rowdy main resort, follow rising complaints from locals about the behaviour of visitors who give Mallorca’s main source of income.

They come at a time when the negative impact of mass tourism is being debated in vacation hotspots around the world from Machu Picchu in Peru to Venice in Italy.

When finally approved after summer 2018, the rules will give police more control over the island’s entertainment industry and the power to issue fines on the spot.

Anyone caught wandering around topless could be made to pay up to 3,000 euros ($3,500). People having sex on the street or performing sex acts in public will be fined too.Jumping from hotel balconies into swimming pools and the sale of laughing gas has also been banned.

— Agencies.