Malia bans 10,000 British tourists to attract more families

Greek holiday resort Malia has reportedly blocked around 10,000 bookings from the UK in a bid to attract more families, mainly from Germany, Austria and the Netherlands.

The popular resort in Crete, which rakes in six million hotel and resort bookings each year, wants to deter large groups of British tourists travelling to the island for stag parties and party holidays.

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Malia's deputy mayor, Efthymios Moutrakis, told The Times: "We've given these tour operators a free hand in branding an image completely alien to what Malia really is. Malia isn't about sex, drugs and everything goes. It's the prime tourist destination in Crete, bringing in millions of euros to the island."

Security has also been beefed up and 189 people have been arrested for possessing hippie crack.

Tour operator Purple Travel told The Times that there has been "a noticeable decrease in hotels that historically we would have recommended as suitable for groups".

In 2013, it was reported that drunken British holidaymakers in Malia could be corralled into separate drinking zones following the murder of a teenager.

Mayor of Malia, Zacharias Doxastakis, told the Sunday Express that he promised to clamp down on drunken Brits' "wretched antics" turning the Greek holiday island into a "battlefield".

Speaking to the newspaper, he said: "They can't come to our country and run riot. Just because our country is in crisis we don't need to accept such behaviour.

"We are considering setting up special zones, clubs that will host young Britons and where they can do everything they want to do but in an area that is closely monitored."