Swearing bans and noise-o-meters: How the fun police came for your holiday

Telegraph

28-04-2025

Aren't holidays supposed to be about having fun? If that question seems too obvious for a serious travel article, you've clearly missed the barrage of spirit-crushing rules emanating from some of the world's most successful tourism spots in recent years, as destinations across the world turn their backs on the good-time crowd.
Just look at the Balearic Islands, which have spent much of the past few years looking for inventive ways to clamp down on boozy travellers, including restricting so-called party boats and banning alcohol sales between certain hours. Last year the Spanish government even began a new initiative to gather data on the worst nationalities for drunkenness and send school-report style missives to their respective embassies.
Following the law when you're abroad is one thing, but can you imagine travelling back in time to the heyday of the Club 18-30 holidays (the kind immortalised on Sky's infamous Ibiza Uncovered) and telling the punters that, within just a few decades, their favourite party spots would be declaring war on late-night alcohol sales?
The age of holiday puritanism
Ibiza might be an extreme example, but it's far from the only destination that has pivoted towards puritanism in recent years. Open a holiday brochure at random and there's a good chance you'll stumble across a country that has put in place some kind of restriction to clamp down on old-fashioned fun.
From Prague banning organised pub tours to attract 'more cultured' tourists, to Miami Beach producing fake reality TV shows showing tearful influencers lamenting their drunken behaviour, the crusade against boozy behaviour has been running for years now. But don't go thinking that it's just alcohol that has fallen foul of this new age of puritanism.
The coastal Croatian city of Dubrovnik has installed noise meters in its old town, in order to clamp down on restaurants and cafes hosting high-spirited tourists.
Paris has been shuttering some of its iconic outdoor terraces, in order to ensure that local Nimbys can enjoy some peace and quiet. Meanwhile, San Diego is looking to ban picnics and parties on its enviable beaches.
Elsewhere, Bali has banned swearing, while Bangkok has been waging an almost decade-long vendetta against street-food vendors. Then there are the finger-wagging campaigns sent out into the wild to warn off would-be hedonists.
Who could forget Amsterdam's famous 'Stay Away' marketing drive, with its targeted chastising of British tourists above all others?
So what exactly is going on? Could it be a muscle memory from the pandemic, when bureaucrats and busybodies relished the chance to micromanage every aspect of our behaviour?
When you look at some of the restrictions championed in the Balearics – for example, the restrictions on overnight alcohol sales – it's not hard to spot similarities with the curfew-style rules pushed during Covid. There's even a new 'rule of six' (remember that?) in the Balearics, albeit of a different kind, with patrons at all-inclusive hotels limited to half-a-dozen alcohol drinks per day.
Perhaps it's also related to 'overtourism', the new buzzword that has seen scores of locals in the Canary Islands and Amsterdam take to the streets to vent their frustration at those selfish enough to want to spend their money in the local economy.
You can certainly see the logic there: if we can't stop them coming, we can at least make sure they don't enjoy it.
Keeping out the riff-raff
Tourism experts have also drawn a link between destinations' attempts to rebrand themselves in order to draw in higher-spending, more sophisticated tourists. It's a controversial strategy closely associated with New Zealand, which raised some eyebrows in 2020 when government ministers were upfront about their intentions to discourage backpackers in favour of high-net-worth types.
The first problem is that these immaculately-mannered big spenders are somewhat of a mythical beast – or at least researchers have been unable to find solid evidence that people who stay in plush five-star hotels actually contribute more to local economies than other tourists, or take more steps to be environmentally sustainable.
It's true that destinations like Ibiza have done an astonishing job rebranding themselves as high-end wellness hubs. Catch a British Airways flight to Ibiza and you've got more chance of sitting next to someone heading to a yoga retreat than a superclub. But how many more destinations can carve off a slice of this much smaller and fiercely contested pie?
At the same time, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that penalising more fun-loving tourists is bad for business. 'We have strong demand from visitors who come to Prague for a vibrant, exciting experience, but recent restrictions make that more difficult,' says Andrea Zlesáková, who organises events for the travel planners Kings Prague.
'From the ban on Segways to the closing of restaurant gardens by 10pm and the latest crackdown on pub crawls, there's a clear effort to curb what's been dubbed 'alcohol tourism'. While I understand the city's motivations, for those of us organising group activities, it's becoming harder to find experiences that meet tourists' expectations.'
The new fun capitals
For other party-minded tour planners – particularly those who work across different countries – the rise of the fun police has had a more nuanced effect on businesses, allowing them to bolster their credentials by directing stag and hen dos away from the wrong places.
'While destinations like Prague, Amsterdam and Dublin have declined in popularity, others like Budapest, Lisbon, and Zagreb have taken their place,' says James Baddiley, chief executive of stag party specialists Chilli Sauce. 'We also work with a lot of local guides who can make sure our customers are going to neighbourhoods where they are welcome.'
Meanwhile, the public hand-wringing from European destinations in particular is also presenting an opportunity for less likely suspects to hoover up some of the party crowd – provided that party-goers are prepared to watch their manners when rubbing shoulders with the locals.
UAE-based Jay Smedley, founder of specialist concierge Dubai Key, says that the Emirate continues to attract weekend revellers who may receive a less warm welcome in more liberal countries. 'Dubai is very open for people coming to take advantage of the amazing events and nightlife, including world-class DJs,' he says.
The glitzy roof-top bars of the Middle East might not be to everyone's tastes – or, more pertinently, their budgets. But they do at least provide a reminder of one thing: for every destination that succumbs to the fun police, there will be plenty more willing to take its place.