As the busy season comes to a close in Majorca, locals in one of the Spanish island's most popular resort towns have celebrated a calm and quiet summer in comparison with previous years. Long dubbed one of Majorca's party towns, Magaluf has become renowned among Brits and other young holidaymakers for its lively nightlife, particularly centred around its Magaluf Strip and squares where you find numerous bars, nightclubs and beach clubs.

But this year, Calvia Town Hall said that the summer passed "peacefully," thanks to recent changes to tourism laws and municipal regulations. Magaluf has undergone a process of pacification over the past few years as locals became desperate to change its reputation. This has included introducing heavy fines for public drinking and restricted alcohol sales, as party of the Balearic government's 350-page "Sustainability Pact" aimed at reducing reliance on drunken tourism targeted at UK and German markets. Changes also include limiting alcohol in all-inclusive resorts, banning party boats from shore, and investing in higher-quality tourism experiences to attract a different demographic.

Mauricio Carballeda, the president of the Palmanova-Magaluf Hoteliers Association, highlights the efforts of Calvia Police and the Guardia Civil in what has been "a year of consolidation" after nearly a decade and a half of transformation, according to the Majorca Daily Bulletin. The police have been assisted by the use of drones and surveillance cameras.

Under the new rules, street drinking in designated "excess tourism zones" now carries fines of up to £1,300, while fines of up to £50,000 can be slapped on those who attempt dangerous balcony-jumping antics. Signs with messages such as "#havefunwithrespect" are also displayed to discourage public drunkenness, undressing and other offensive behaviour.

The original "tourism of excesses" decree was passed in 2020, but its impact was not immediate due to the pandemic and its major impact on the industry. However, in recent years, the impact has become more obvious.

"The process is primarily due to a change in visitor profile. The young British tourist, eager for partying and debauchery, no longer predominates," said the town hall's tourism department. "Instead there is a more family-oriented profile with greater purchasing power."

However, despite the changes, Mauricio Carballeda, the president of the Palmanova-Magaluf Hoteliers Association, has insisted that this year's peak season matched that of 2024.

"We're returning to pre-pandemic figures," he said, as while there have been fewer reservations this year, this has been offset by prices.

In the "Sustainability Pact", published in the spring, Majorcan officials laid out plans to "reduce dependence on traditional tourist markets", mainly aimed at the UK and Germany, which saw 18.4 million and 11.9 million tourists descend, respectively, on the archipelago in 2024.

This comes as visitors to Magaluf last month dubbed the scenes in Magaluf "very sad" as Brits are no longer rushing to the party town. In a recent TikTok video, a British expat named Alex said: "I thought it would be a lot busier than this, I am quite surprised to see Magaluf like this. It looks more like April... I can't believe it. It's not looking very busy at all.

Another weighed in on the discussion, commenting: "Dead atmosphere, it's a bit sad. It's got an end-of-season feel about it. I remember going more than twenty years ago in August and the streets and bars were all packed."