All-inclusive holidaymakers heading for Spain’s Balearic Islands this summer are being hit with strict new ‘six drinks a day’ rules.

The rules apply to all-inclusive resorts in four party towns in Mallorca and Ibiza.

Resorts in Magaluf, El Arenal and Playa de Palma in Mallorca and San Antonio in Ibiza are only allowed to serve up six drinks a day to their guests – three at lunch and three at dinner.

Outside of those hours, customers will have to pay the going rate for their drinks – meaning many will face much-higher costs than expected for their holiday.

The beach in Magaluf, Mallorca. Image: Westend61 GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Michelle Walsh Jackson from TheNovelTraveller.com said anyone travelling all-inclusive should check to see if their resort is affected.

“If you’re not going to one of these resorts - and specific parts of those resorts - your hotel is not going to be included in this,” she said.

“This is a specific issue the Spanish are trying to target to make it more comfortable for everybody going on their holidays there.

“You do need to check.”

She said many travel agents will be prepared to change your booking if you get in contact with the,

“Once you have signed a contract, you really are tied into it but you would hope that your travel agent or your tour operator would be able to facilitate you if you needed to change that,” she said.

“So that is the first thing I would do. Find out if you are affected because it is not a blanket ban – the whole of Spain is not going to shut down for all-inclusives.”

Cafe Mambo in San Antonio, Ibiza. image: Imagebroker / Alamy Stock Photo

Ms Walsh Jackson said the new rules are very much targeted at the “mad crazy” party areas of the Balearics – popular among Leaving Cert holidaymakers from Ireland.

“It really is because they have had terrible issues with things like balconing, which is where young people jump from balcony to balcony and their own safety is at stake,” she said.

“It has really been horrible for young people living there and as well, the trash in the evenings, in the streets and the unruly behaviour.

“At night, it is quite crazy. In some of the bars, they will have foam laid out in the basements and people splashing themselves in bikinis all over the place and you know, drinking and drinking games – so they are trying to curtail that and make it a safer, nicer place to holiday.”

She noted that most leaving Cert groups don’t go to all-inclusive resorts meaning “it is a very small amount of people that are going to be affected by this”.