KEY POINTS:
Time has been called on the party in Ibiza.
From next season "after-hours" dance clubs on the island where the party never stops will be banned.
The Consell Insular d'Evissa, or regional council, said these clubs, which operate between 6am and 10am, after normal club hours, were causing a disturbance for residents and less nocturnal holidaymakers.
And local authorities in Ibiza Town want to close the clubs between 6am and 6pm, putting an end to afternoon raves.
The clampdown was prompted by continued problems with drug-taking among clubbers and the deaths of three people in shoot-outs between rival gangs in the past two years.
For many it marks the end of an era for the island which invented chill-out music and which was famous for its hedonistic, anything-goes attitude.
Hundreds of thousands of young people flock to the island every year and it has also become the playground of celebrities from Kate Moss to James Blunt.
But now the famously laid-back locals, worried that the clubs and drugs are getting out of hand, have had enough. Last summer's season saw 720 arrests for drugs-related offences.
Exasperated by activities of drug dealers inside the major clubs, authorities took the unprecedented decision last summer to close three of the biggest venues.
Amnesia, which attracts clubbers from across Europe, was shut for a month and fined 4,000 pounds (NZ$10,268) for its "lax attitude" towards the problem.
Bora Bora and DC10 were forced to close their doors for one and two months respectively. Both operate after-hours clubs.
In 2006, police launched a crackdown after becoming worried that a new, more violent, breed of British gangster was operating on the island.
It followed a shooting in which two holidaymakers from Northern Ireland, Gareth Richardson and Niall Hamilton, were wounded in crossfire between British drug gangs.
The resort town of San Antonio, a mecca for clubbers at night, banned after-hours clubs some time ago.
And now Sant Josep, home to clubs such as Space, DC10 and Bora Bora, is to do the same.
Vicent Ferrer, head of tourism in Sant Josep, said: "In an urban space, an after-hours club is a danger and we have to stop it."
Paquita Ribas, a local councillor, added: "We know the clubs are attractive internationally but we want tourists and residents to live in a better way."
Pepe Rosello, owner of Space, said: "The new rules mean some of our morning sessions will have to be moved to afternoons. But it also opens the door to more illegal parties in houses and on the beaches."
Last year, 4.5 million tourists spent their holidays in Ibiza, a 6.6 per cent rise on 2006.
- INDEPENDENT
