The deadly craze that is seeing British youngsters risk their lives on holiday: How ‘balconing’ – jumping from one balcony to another – has become a dangerous thrill… with resorts now issuing £30k fines
- Spanish authorities have been at loss at how to stop tourists from balconing
It’s a deadly craze that sees British tourists lunge from one hotel balcony to another, hoping that they won’t fall to their deaths or seriously injure themselves.
Spanish authorities across the holiday islands of Ibiza and Majorca have been at a loss at how to stop young, often intoxicated, tourists from taking part in the craze known as ‘balconing’.
Just this week, four British teenagers were caught either climbing from one balcony to another or jumping from their balcony into a swimming pool below.
And in an effort to ban the dangerous trend, authorities across Spain and its Balearic islands are now issuing £30,000 fines to guilty tourists and kicking them out of their hotels.
But despite the threat of fines and warnings from the UK Foreign Office, daredevil tourists have still clambered atop precariously narrow ledges at their hotels, risking a near-certain fatal fall onto the concrete below with just one wrong move.
The dangerous trend has been blamed for a series of deaths of young Britons travelling to the Balearics on summer holidays, with their heartbroken parents left distraught.
Here MailOnline takes a look at how ‘balconing’ has become a dangerous thrill for tourists with sometimes fatal consequences – and how local authorities are trying to tackle the deadly craze.
Spanish authorities across the holiday islands of Ibiza and Majorca have been at a loss at how to stop young, often intoxicated, tourists from taking part in the craze known as ‘balconing’ (file image)
British tourists caught risking their lives by ‘balconing’
For years, British tourists have been caught risking their lives on holiday by climbing from one hotel to another or jumping from their balconies.
This week, it emerged that four British teenagers and a Swedish tourist were caught ‘balconing’ in hotels across the party resort of Magaluf and were fined £30,000 each.
They were also kicked out of their respective hotels as officials in the resort try desperately to crack down on the unruly behaviour.
The infractions occurred between June 4 and August 8, with the last case being detected at 6am on August 8 when a tourist was seen jumping from one hotel balcony to another.
But while officials across the Balearic island insist that the fines that were introduced act as a ‘powerful deterrent’ against the reckless behaviour, Brits are still risking their lives to jump from one balcony to another.
Last month, a daredevil tourist cheated death by shimmying across a ledge dozens of feet up in the air as terrified holidaymakers watched on at the Ibiza Rocks Hotel in Ibiza.
Heart-stopping footage shows the unidentified Brit clambering atop the precarious ledge as onlookers gasped in disbelief. The man moved along the narrow, risking a near-certain fatal fall onto the courtyard below.
Against all odds, the Brit managed to reach the other side and ultimately escaped what would’ve undoubtedly been a fatal fall.
A huge drop onto the paved courtyard below meant that one wrong move, one momentary loss of balance would’ve resulted in tragedy
The heart-stopping incident unfolded at the Ibiza Rocks Hotel on July 1, where an unidentified man clambered atop the precarious ledge whose sheer height left onlookers gasping in disbelief
The incident served as a stark reminder of the risks people take when under the influence or making impulsive decisions.
In a similar incident, a 31-year-old British man was left fighting for his life after he tried to jump from a third floor balcony into a swimming pool in Spain in 2021.
The tourist missed the water and crashed into a sunshade before hitting the ground with a harsh thud. He suffered a head injury, internal organ damage and multiple broken bones.
The man had been attending a party with friends on Monday evening when he attempted balconing at an apartment complex in San Pedro de Alcantara, near the popular resort of Marbella.
Meanwhile, in 2019, a British tourist broke his collarbone and several ribs when he clambered to a balcony of his Magaluf hotel and jumped to the ground below in yet another example of balconing.
The holidaymaker was filmed leaping into a tree and smashing into the ground below after it failed to support his weight.
He had claimed he had suffered the broken bones in an accident in the swimming pool in a bid to make the hotel pay for his £33,000 hospital bill before being caught out.
Hotel bosses contacted insurers after the youngster claimed he sustained his injuries when he slipped round the pool – but investigators for the insurance firm quickly established why he had really been hurt after discovering the video on social media.
Footage shows the tourist crouching down on a landing over stairs before jumping for the small tree below him, but he crashed through the foliage and was seen writhing on the ground in agony after the stunt backfired.
Video shows the youth, dressed in red swimming shorts, using a drainpipe running up the outside of the three-star Hotel Encant in S’Arenal to climb between balconies before tip-toeing along a narrow ledge and throwing himself off
In August 2018, a British holidaymaker cheated death after plunging from a Magaluf sixth-floor balcony.
It later emerged he checked himself out of hospital – without waiting for doctors to give him the all-clear – before police could hand him his fine for balconing.
And in July 2018, another tourist risked his life by scaling a Majorcan hotel before plunging into a pool from a second-floor balcony.
Video shows the youth, dressed in red swimming shorts, using a drainpipe running up the outside of the three-star Hotel Encant in S’Arenal to climb between balconies before tip-toeing along a narrow ledge and throwing himself off.
Onlookers could be heard cheering as he made a splash in the swimming pool below despite warnings from a Spaniard not to jump.
A hotel manager confirmed that he had called the police who had removed the tourist, who the hotel has banned from returning.
British tourists die in fatal balconing incidents
And illustrating just how dangerous the craze of ‘balconing’ is, a British holidaymaker died after plunging from a balcony in the Ibizan party resort of San Antonio last month.
The 35-year-old plunged from the apartment building and his body was found on the concrete floor below in the early hours of the morning on July 4.
After he died it emerged the same man had cheated death in a 30-foot fall in the same resort nearly five years ago.
He ended up impaled on the pole of a sun umbrella in a near-tragedy in September 2018.
Two weeks earlier, an 22-year-old British amateur footballer died in the same resort after plunging from a three-star hotel. He was pronounced dead at the scene following desperate attempts by paramedics to save his life.
In another similar tragedy, a 24-year-old British woman died in September last year after plunging from a balcony at the Rosamar Hotel in Cala de Bou, just a short drive from San Antonio in Ibiza.
In 2019, a British tourist broke his collarbone and several ribs when he clambered to a balcony of his Magaluf hotel and jumped to the ground below in yet another example of balconing
He misses the small flimsy branches and falls straight through the tree to the ground before landing on his back and appears to writhe in pain – but he survived the incident
In 2018, a 20-year-old British tourist fell to his death from the Eden Rock apartment complex in Magaluf after a night out. He was found in the courtyard 70ft below by police officers.
That same year, at the same apartment complex, an 18-year-old British man and a 19-year-old British woman died in separate instances.
The British man, 18, had jumped over a low wall separating him from the abyss below in a flawed attempt to reach his hotel following a night out.
Meanwhile, the woman fell to her death from a seventh floor hotel at the Eden Rock apartment complex while trying to climb from one balcony to another.
The tourist realised she did not have her keys after she returned from a bar and went to a friend’s apartment before trying to climb to the balcony of her flat. But she fell from the seventh floor balcony and died.
As a result of their deaths, the Eden Rock apartment owners installed a fence on a walkway above the 70ft drop after being asked by the local council to take urgent remedial action.
In recent years, locals even put up sick posters encouraging visitors to jump to their deaths from balconies in Barcelona.
The posters emerged in 2018, proclaiming that ‘balconing’ IS fun, stating that it ‘prevents gentrification and improves neighbours’ quality of life’.
In recent years, locals even put up sick posters encouraging visitors to jump to their deaths from balconies in Barcelona
How local authorities are trying to tackle deadly craze
Local authorities across Spain and the Balearic Islands have been scratching their heads on how best to deal with the deadly craze of balconing.
As with the case of the four British teenagers who were caught jumping one hotel balcony to another in Magaluf this week, authorities have turned to severe fines and kicking tourists out of their hotels.
The four Britons, two of whom were aged 18 and the other two aged 19, as well as a Swedish tourist, were fined more than £150,000 in total by the local authorities this summer.
Juan Feliu, head of Calvia council, which covers the tourist hotspots of Magaluf and Palma Nova this week stressed the severe fines acted as a ‘powerful deterrent’ against the reckless and dangerous behaviour.
‘Balconing is not going to be tolerated in our municipality,’ Mr Felieu said. ‘It’s an irresponsible practice that can cause serious and irreversible injuries and even death.
‘It’s obviously the last thing one would want for those who visit us. ‘This is not leisure, it’s a very dangerous irresponsible act and it’s not the image we want for our municipality.’
Four British teenagers have been fined £30,000 each for climbing from one hotel balcony to another – a craze known as ‘balconing’ – in Magaluf as the party resort cracks down on dangerous behaviour (file image of Playa de Magaluf beach)
He said police efforts to crack down on the anti-social behaviour, which has previously caused injury and several deaths, are being intensified amid efforts to promote a better image of Magaluf, which has long been plagued by heavy drinking and rowdiness.
As a result of a series of balconing tragedies, Mallorca’s regional government based in Palma Mallorca passed a law in 2020 banning the practice of ‘balconing’ throughout the Balearic Islands, with fines of up to £50,000.
The regional government also banned the sale of alcohol in shops between 9.30pm and 8am, as well as pub crawls, two-for-one drinks offers and happy hours at certain spots in Magaluf, El Arenal and Playa de Palma in Mallorca.
Announcing the laws in 2020, a regional government spokesman said: ‘Efforts to promote the destination, to provide it with better quality through both public and private sector investments, and position it in an increasingly competitive and global market, have been affected recently by certain uncivic behaviour.
‘Most of this type of behaviour is directly related to alcohol abuse in certain tourist areas of Majorca and Ibiza.’
The regional government in 2020 also suspended the concession of new ‘party boat’ licences, with boats that were already licensed banned from embarking or disembarking tourists in the areas covered by a government decree.
The decree also covered the popular British tourist hotspot West End in Ibiza and S’Arenal near Palma favoured by Germans and Dutch holidaymakers.
Earlier this month a firm offering British holidaymakers illegal booze cruises in Magaluf was hit with a near-£140,000 fine levied under the same decree.
Council chiefs responsible for the Majorcan party resort said company bosses were caught ‘red-handed’ as they as they escorted around 130 tourists who had paid nearly £40 each onto a boat where loud music was going to be played and alcohol was on offer.
An agreement between Calvia Council which covers Magaluf and a local boat owners’ association had already been signed in 2018, designed to stop the jetty in the resort being used by party boats.
The Balearic government has blamed a fall in visitor numbers on Magaluf and San Antonio garnering a bad image in recent years and the collapse of tour operator Thomas Cook.
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