Tourists facing restrictions amid fears of new virus spikes

MADRID (AP) — From the palm-fringed beaches of southern India to the bar-lined streets of a Spanish island and the rolling hills of Ireland, restaurants, pubs and clubs are emerging as frontlines in efforts to prevent the re-emergence of the coronavirus.

With Europe’s summer vacation season kicking into high gear for millions weary of months of lockdown, scenes of drunken British and German tourists on Spain’s Mallorca island ignoring social distancing rules and reports of American visitors flouting quarantine measures in Ireland are raising fears of a resurgence of infections in countries that have battled for months to flatten the COVID-19 curve.

Germany’s foreign minister condemned the rowdy tourists for imperilling hard-won gains in efforts to contain the virus.

“We just recently managed to open the borders again in Europe. We cannot risk this by reckless behaviour,” Heiko Maas told Funke Media Group on Thursday. “Otherwise, new measures will be inevitable.”

In a move designed to stop the spread of the coronavirus and shake off the region’s reputation as a party hub, regional authorities in the Balearic Islands ordered the closure from Thursday of all establishments along Mallorca’s “Beer St.” and “Ham St.,” as the popular party areas near the beach of Palma de Mallorca are known, and on another boulevard in nearby Magaluf.

Bar owners reacted angrily to the new restrictions on the islands that have seen, like most regions in Spain, recent small spikes in infections, none of which were traced to visiting tourists or party hotspots.

Bars and nightclubs employ some 20,000 people in the region.

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