Irish tourists could be fined up to €1,800 for wearing a bikini on the streets of the Portuguese city of Albufeira.
Over half a million Irish go to Portugal every year, with many heading to the Algarve in the south where the sun shines nearly the whole year.
On Newstalk Breakfast, Air and Travel magazine editor Eoghan Corry said locals have quite simply “had enough” of visitors’ "boorish behaviour” - particularly on Friday and Saturday night.
“What they’ve done is they’ve taken existing regulations and they’ve beefed them up a little bit and introduced a few new ones,” he explained.
“The main thing that they’re looking for is drunkenness and absolutely obnoxious behaviour late at night.
“Interestingly enough, a lot of the regulations will apply to people wearing bikinis and swimwear in the street.”
Fines
Mr Corry continued that tourists are a “little bit worried about this one”.
“The fines are large,” he said.
“I think you’re talking about €1,800 at the top end and starting at €500.
“[Regarding] the level of enforcement, it does sound like Albufeira could be going the direction of Saudi Arabia but I doubt that’s going to happen any time soon.”
While that might seem dramatic, Mr Corry added that locals “just want to have their town in some form of functioning order at 12 o’clock at night”.
“That you can actually walk the street without the madness that shows up a lot on social media with holidaymakers, not from Ireland, but from a neighbouring island jumping up and down on cars, drinking with drinks in their hands - stuff like that,” he said.
“It’s quite common.”
Mr Corry predicted there would be a “domino effect”, with other towns in Portugal implementing similar rules.
Main image: A woman in a bikini. Picture by: Alamy.com.
