OPINION: Mallorca’s crackdown on troublesome tourists targets the wrong people and it is Spain’s local businesses who will suffer

IF the Mallorcan authorities wanted to reinvent the isle as an upmarket tourist hotspot, they’d be better off targeting terror tourists than going after struggling businesses.

Instead, with hotels and bars in popular holiday destinations still reeling from the collapse of Thomas Cook – which brought 1.2 million travellers to the island in 2018 – the government has decided to go after those who are suffering the most hardship.

Let’s remember that those working in the hospitality sector have only just managed to get compensation granted by the courts, three months after the collapse, and it will be still longer before they see the funds in the bank.

Mallorcans’ elected representatives would be better off going after the culprits. It is those who choose to jump off balconies into swimming pools for cheap thrills after splashing the cash on a 14 day all inclusive stay who should (and more importantly who are able) to pay.