All Night Long: Tourists and nightlife

In "Ultima Hora" yesterday was a report on a survey into nightlife and its "quality" in the Balearics. What is extraordinary about the findings of this survey is not that tourists go to night bars and clubs, but that quite so many do and quite so often.

While the survey, conducted on behalf of the ministry of health and consumption (as in the consumer as opposed to its meaning TB), will lead to implications for matters such as safety and alcohol and drug abuse, what seems truly significant is that over 80% of Brits and over 70% of Germans who come to Mallorca go to a night bar on five or more nights during their stay.

The report is not clear as to which resorts these findings apply to, and one might express some scepticism as to the exact definition of a night bar or club, but assuming this to mean places that are open well into the morning then the findings really are significant. They are significant for different reasons. One, they run counter to a general image of Mallorca as a predominantly "family" destination. Two, they potentially shatter the notion of Mallorca as a destination for so-called alternative tourism; it is hard to reconcile night birds with bird-watchers, for example. Three, they confirm what anyone with an ounce of understanding knows - that for many tourists, nightlife (meaning after midnight) is an important aspect of the holiday mix, despite attempts to neuter it through measures such as terrace curfews.

It is certainly difficult to reconcile the family nature of the Mallorcan holiday with the proclivity to partake in late-night entertainment. Perhaps babysitting services are enjoying boom times, or perhaps there are a lot of elderly relatives who are brought along for this very reason. Not that the elderly are not themselves necessarily out late; the report makes no specific mention of age.

While nightlife is most obviously associated with Magaluf and Palma, it is not as though it doesn't exist elsewhere; quite the contrary. Alcúdia and Can Picafort are both well-represented in this regard. Puerto Pollensa may not be the night centre it was many years ago, but it still has quite a bit of nightlife, despite the fact that some might prefer to portray the resort as quiet and only family-oriented, which is a fallacy.

If the survey had found that tourists went out on the town once or twice during a stay, then the findings wouldn't be particularly revealing. But five or more times is a very different scale. Though not a survey under the auspices of the tourism ministry, it, if it has any sense, should be looking at the results with keen interest; instead it's likely to look at them with alarm as they do not sit easily with its misguided marketing mindset of non-sun and beach and indeed nightlife tourism.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.