End this booze culture

With intense media attention surrounding the antics of drunken revellers, particularly in holiday resorts such as Faliraki, it is difficult not to worry about the future of British youth.

The media has been quick to paint a vulgar and alarming picture of the behaviour of young British tourists abroad, with Faliraki being at the centre of their fascination.

Most people would agree that the birth of this excessive lifestyle, which thrives on sex and booze, leaves us with immense problems. So, who is to blame?

Suspect number one is the holiday industry.

Bars and clubs, serving cheap, promotional drinks and luring innocent young victims into their establishments to taste the forbidden fruit of alcohol, in a greedy quest for economic rewards.

After all, Brits love a bargain, so promotional drink offers are bound to attract a spot of binge drinking.

Their accomplices are the tour companies, offering cheap package holidays to the naive youngsters, and enticing them from their cotton wool world, to a land of debauchery where anything goes, as long as you're smashed.

They send their minions (or tour reps) to incite and encourage lewd behaviour in attempts to take their cash.

Much of the media's criticism has pointed the finger at such industries, arguing that tourists are expected and encouraged to behave in aggressive, sexually flamboyant ways while being fed rivers of dangerous alcoholic cocktails.

With the arrests of two tour reps in Faliraki this summer, and the shocking sexually explicit behaviour of five clubs reps in Kavos, it is little wonder that tour companies are receiving so much condemnation.

But are their actions as depraved as we choose to believe?

Suspect number two is the tourist.

British youths themselves force as much booze as possible down their throats, while flaunting themselves shamelessly in a bid to grab the most attention from the opposite sex.

It's a lifestyle they adore and so they have created a market on which the alcohol and tourist industry can capitalise immensely.

With their insatiable appetite for excessive revelry are they entirely to blame for such disgraceful behaviour?

Seemingly, we have a chicken and egg conundrum.

What came first, clubs or clubbers? Do such clubs and bars exist to satisfy our lust for alcohol fuelled fun and frolics, and without them would we merely find other more dangerous places to continue this culture?

Or do they encourage excessive binge drinking in order to profit and prey on innocent young members of the public through glossy advertising and promotion?

Both the industry and its consumers depend on one another to exist, so the finger of blame should be pointed at both parties.

You may ask what is the real problem?

It's just some drunken teenagers having fun, enjoying their youth and independence.

Yet in addition to numerous health concerns, problems also occur when people misjudge their limits -- when excitement turns to aggression and when alcohol dulls common sense, leaving them highly vulnerable.

The serious problems in Faliraki are an indication of the extreme behaviour such a culture can encourage.

With a high number of rapes and the recent murder of 17-year-old Patrick Doran, the resort has to deal with the exceptional consequences of providing such an unrestrained party atmosphere.

So what is the solution? How do we protect ourselves from turning into a nation of yobs?

Is it necessary to eradicate the drinking culture altogether, so we all stay in with a good book or maybe a board game if it's your birthday?

In Britain today, very few people of all ages and backgrounds will deny socialising with the aid of plenty of alcohol. The drink industry is a firmly established part of British culture.

Clearly, however, this is no excuse for the extreme behaviour of the minority.

The problem in Faliraki has prompted local authorities to take extreme measures, imposing severe punishments for lewd behaviour.

However, it should not just be the responsibilities of the police to curb this wild behaviour.

It is also the responsibility of bar and club owners as well as drinkers themselves to actively encourage taming such environments.

British tourists have an embarrassing and appalling reputation for their behaviour abroad, which is something that we should not tolerate for a moment longer.

I for one am sick of apologising for being British abroad.