Scottish minister calls for closure of Spanish website that ridicules deaths from ‘balconing’

Scotland’s minister for drugs and alcohol policy, Christina McKelvie, has called for the closure of a Spanish website and an account on the social platform X that offer a satirical view of tourist deaths stemming from a risky practice that has been dubbed in Spain as balconing. The activity, long associated with young drunken tourists on holidays in the Balearic Islands, involves leaping from one hotel balcony to another, or into the swimming pools below. As early as 2013 the U.K. Foreign Office was already warning young Britons heading on holidays about “the dangers of misbehaving on balconies.”

“Social media organizations should take any action they can to remove such deplorable content from their sites,” said McKelvie, who spoke in her capacity as member of the Scottish Parliament, as reported by the British newspaper The Guardian. The remarks came shortly after the death of a 19-year-old Scottish student who fell from a balcony during her holiday in Ibiza; the fall is being treated by Spanish police as an accident.

Both the website and the X account remain operational and the individuals behind the content said that the main problem is “drunken tourism in the Balearic Islands and its consequences.” Towns like Magaluf have long attracted thousands of young holidaymakers drawn by the promise of sun, sand and cheap alcohol.

The account of the Balearic Federation of Balconing took over from another less active one which reported, also in a satirical way, on tourists who died after falling from the balconies of hotels and apartments. Initially, many of these accidents occurred when tourists, usually young and under the influence of alcohol or drugs, jumped from their hotel balconies into the pools below. However, in recent years many of these deaths have occurred because tourists leap from balcony to balcony while also under the influence of alcohol or drugs, which reduces the perception of the danger that this practice entails.

The X account, with almost 56,000 followers, has compiled a ranking of the season’s deaths under the label Balcon League, with a grid detailing the deaths by nationality and in which each country obtains.

“A comeback! Everyone was hoping that the kings of this sport would once again be leaders of the Balcony League and, despite the fact that this moment has been a long time coming, the British NEVER disappoint. The league is set to end with a thrilling finale, we will see if Germany responds,” reads one of the latest posts, written in a dialect of Catalan spoken in the Balearic Islands. The content creators define themselves as “Darwinistically tourism-phobic” and on their website they make it clear that in no case do they count suicides, deaths of minors, accidental falls or deaths caused by third parties.

“This is utterly vile and my heart goes out to the loved ones of anyone who has been targeted by this organization,” said the Scottish minister, who criticized attempts to exploit and use these deaths in a “cruel” way. The latest incident occurred on 20 August, when the 19-year-old Scottish student died after falling from the sixth floor of a hotel in the early hours of the morning in the town of Sant Antoni, on the island of Ibiza. Emergency services rushed to the scene after receiving a call, but were unable to save the young woman due to the severity of her injuries.

In 2020, the regional government of the Balearic Islands approved a Law against Tourism of Excess with the aim of reducing this type of incident, caused by alcohol and drug abuse, which only increased after the Covid pandemic. The legislation sets fines of up to €60,000 for people caught balconing. There are also provisions to restrict the mass sale of alcohol aimed at younger tourists. In recent years, awareness campaigns have been carried out in countries of origin, such as the United Kingdom, warning of the consequences of this type of behavior.

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