It has been a crazy few weeks for the law makers of Ibiza and beyond. The local governments have been cracking down hard on the tourism and entertainment industries but when will the line in the sand be drawn before the new laws begin to harm local business and deter tourists?
There has been a huge list of bills introduced and a list of potential policies in the pipeline over the last couple of months. Open air venues were under fire with local councils given the power to “regulate, determine or prohibit, in a reasonable manner, tourist activities”. This goes for clubs, beaches and ballrooms across the Balearic islands of Mallorca, Menorca, Formentera and Ibiza.
After that came an attack on Villa parties. The “Leisure Association Of Ibiza“, which consists of 27 brands with clubs like Ushuaïa, Blue Marlin Ibiza, DC-10, Café Mambo and more, congratulate the City Council of Sant Josep for the determination in bringing these illegal parties to a halt. The Council have issued in total €84,000 worth of fines across 14 different villas for “organizing ‘large format’ parties that caused significant noise disturbance to the neighbours”.
On top of that, the local government wants to further reduce the cap on tourist beds on the island by almost 120,000. The cap for tourist beds on the island currently sits at 623,624 but plans to cut it by a further 120,000 are well under way. There’s no denying the fact that tourism is Ibiza’s main form of income and the government seem to be cutting off the nose to spite the face here. The island’s population is 120,000 people but they manage to pull in over 6 million tourists per year. That’s not bad at all!
It’s not all bad news however due to the fact that many hotels want to ban tourists from their property and other hotels on the island for misbehaving. Plans to share troublemakers names, nationalities and passport details with other hotels on the island to ensure no more damage is done. While we never think anyone should be excluded from experiencing the island, it’s only right that if your behaviour leaves a lot to be desired then you shouldn’t be allowed to ruin the fun for the rest of the legitimate tourists who experience the island but more importantly, respect the island.
There’s an argument here that these policies are necessary for the long term health of the tourism industry of the island but it seems there has been so much to come at once that the authorities may get carried away with themselves. What happens when they reach the point of no return and potentially cause irreparable damage to the industry and leave a bitter taste in tourists mouths? Time will tell but for now, who knows what the future holds.