Impacts of Tourism on Ibiza

In this essay the impact of mass tourism on Ibiza will be analysed. This will
include cultural impacts, environmental impacts and economic impacts. An
introduction to the island of Ibiza will also be given. Although there are two
different types of tourism (clubbing and family holidays), as Ibiza is best known
for its clubbing tourism, in this essay a greater emphasis will be given towards
how clubbing tourism has influenced the island in both negative and positive
ways.
According to World Travel Guide (nd), Ibiza is the third largest island of the
Balearic Islands after Majorca, Menorca and Fomentera being the smallest of all
four islands. This community of island is part of Spain and is located in the
Mediterranean Sea, towards the East of mainland Spain. Ibiza is a small Island
measuring only 21 miles in length, just 12 miles in width and has a total
surface area of 220 square miles. In the summer, the temperature could
exceed 30 degrees Celsius with an average 11 hours of sunshine. The rich
history of Ibiza has made it an island of cultural and has been declared world
heritage site by the UNESCO (UNESCO, (nd)). According to Ibiza Spotlight (nd),
various different civilisations have settled in the island of Ibiza with the
Carthaginians being the earliest at around 654 B.C. Then the Romans
conquered the Balearic Islands (123 B.C.) until the Arabs came in the 9 th
century and remained in the island for nearly 500 years. In 1235, the Catalans
took over the Ibiza and since then, the island has been under many pirate
attacks.

Mass tourism has had an enormous impact on the environment of Ibiza directly
and indirectly. The Ibiza Preservation Fund explains that in 2007, 500 experts in
tourism impact rated Ibiza as the most affected by tourism out of 111 islands
around the globe. Two million tourists fly into Ibiza every year when the local
population is only 100,000. Such a large amount of inbound generates waste
and facilities are simply incapable of coping with the population. Sewage
systems cannot handle the amount of waste and it ends up in the sea, causing
the destruction of sea sides. Marinas has also impacted the seaside and the
natural environment. These impacts may be the destruction of marine habitats,
such as the Posidonia meadows. In 2009, the government gave permission to
develop the ports of Ibiza town which would have further threatened the
habitat of Posidonia meadows, which was declared World Heritage site. It was
recently reported that underground waters were also polluted by seawater as a
result of over exploitation. Exploitation not only can be observed on coastal
areas but also on the main land of Ibiza. Buildings are being built on coast

lines, destroying some well-preserved areas of Ibiza. Also, a golf course project
would further affect the natural environment of Ibiza. Not only there are direct
impacts such as the physical usage of the land to build the golf course but
indirectly, it would increase the islands water usage as golf courses require a
large amount of water. The required water would have to first go through
desalination plants which are major polluters and use a lot of energy. There are
also plans to enlarge the airport in Ibiza in order to increase its capacity by one
million more passengers per year. Once again, this will involve more
destruction of natural land. This would be the direct effect on the environment,
but indirectly, an increase in air traffic will further increase energy consumption
when it already accounts for more than 60 per cent on the islands energy use.
The consumption of energy has risen almost 70 per cent over the past decade
and with these new plans of expansion the energy consumption will further
increase and therefore the pollution and destruction of the environment. All the
points previously mentioned can be related to tourism. The facilities overload is
caused by the large amount of tourist inflow and the expansion projects are all
designed to satisfy the demand in the tourism industry. In an interview carried
out by BBC, the mayor of San Antonio agrees that clubbing tourism has a
significant environmental impact on the town of San Antonio. Not only it
creates general waste produced by large concentration of people, it also
creates noise pollution.
The socio cultural impact of mass tourism on Ibiza has been immense. It has
changes the islands culture in many ways, both bad and good. After the
touristic boom in the 70s, the working environment and mentality has changed.
According to a documentary filmed by BBC, many people have moved from the
country side to the city looking for a better life. Ibiza has shifted from working
in the primary sector (farming and fishing) to working in the tertiary sector
(service within tourism). On the same documentary but a different clip, BBC
explains another important impact of tourism on Ibiza. During the 60s, many
people came to Ibiza as an escape of the mainstream life style. Many of these
tourists decided to stay in the island of Ibiza and a consequently 30% of the
islands population consists of foreign nationals. Such a large amount of foreign
nationals has altered Ibizas society as a whole and may have further
influenced the culture of the island. As San Antonio is one of the main towns for
clubbing, it is the town that has been most affected by tourists looking for the
clubbing experience. On interviewee believes that San Antonio has lost its
culture and that you cannot experience the real Spain and you cannot meet
real people from Ibiza. Mass tourism has also been causing many problems to
the local population. Pedro MariTur, a local business owner which appeared in
the documentary argues that the young tourist British looking for cheap
holidays is not a very positive thing as they cause trouble and creates a bad
image of Ibiza. He prefers tourists that are on family holidays. In 2006, the
government planned to build a six lane highway to cope with the large amount

of tourists which arrive in holiday seasons. This would have seriously affected
the environment of Ibiza and as a result, 20% of the population protested
against the development of the new roads. Briggs (2013) has identified many
negative impacts that the clubbing tourism has bought to the island of Ibiza.
Tourism has boosted Ibizas economy but not everything is accounted for and
legal. Briggs describes the illegal and unaccounted economy as the informal
economy. One of the most problematic sectors of the informal economy is the
drug market. Young British tourists seek the experience of the night life by
pushing limits and boundaries, which effectively is a potential market for drug
dealers. Briggs has distinguished various groups of people which may deal
drugs. This includes British tourist in Ibiza with the purpose of selling drugs to
make profit, PRs that decide to sell drugs to make extra money and African
immigrants which may also sell fake brand products. Drugs are not the only
informal economy which exists in Ibiza. Others may include illegal taxis and
prostitution. Prostitution is another important problem as some may rob their
clients and would often target intoxicated individuals. So far, many negative
impacts have been identified. A positive impact of tourism towards the society
and the culture would be that tourism has created an excellent music culture.
Laing (1997) cited in Dawe (2004) states that the global flow musicians, DJs
and producers has further made Ibizas music and dance culture stand out. The
islands dance culture and the Balearic Beats has created new genres of dance
music all over the world Melechi (1993) and Malbon (1999) in Dawe (2004).
It is quite obvious that tourism has had a major impact on Ibizas economy
and the populations life style quality. According to BBC, 80% of Ibizas income
comes from tourism, meaning that the island is highly dependent upon
tourism. As long as tourism lasts, Ibiza may continue to grow and may maintain
its wealth. As mentioned previously, after the touristic boom in the 70s, many
people moved from the countryside to city (BBC). Indeed, due to mass tourism,
there has been a structural change in Ibizas economy, shifting Ibiza from the
primary sector to the service sector. The population were better paid working in
the tourism industry, the quality of life improved and the economy expanded.
This, however, leaves one problem. As farmers are unable to pay a similar
amount to the tourism industry pays, the lack of workers working in the fields
became a problem, making Ibiza even more dependent on tourism. Briggs
(2013. P 126) found out that although the Spanish has benefited from tourism,
the benefit was very limited in comparison to the clubs owned by foreigners.
Places such as Ibiza Rocks in 2005 offer all inclusive packages where the
tourist does not need to spend any more. Many of these places and clubs are
owned by British private firms and therefore the local firms in Ibiza may receive
very little business in comparison to them. Due to it, many locals believe that
there is an unfairness and also because they pay taxes while more business
goes to British proprietors.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/the-effect-of-clubbing-on-tourism-inibiza/1427.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/effects-of-clubbing-tourism-inibiza/1428.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/the-effect-of-clubbing-on-tourism-inibiza/1429.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/effects-of-clubbing-tourism-inibiza/1430.html

http://www.ibizapreservationfund.org/english/issues/#coastlines

World Travel Guide (nd). Available at:

http://www.worldtravelguide.net/spain/balearic-islands/ibiza/weather-climategeography Accessed 9 December 2013
Risk on holiday
Island music
UNESCO (nd). Available at: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/417/ Accessed 9
December 2013
Ibiza Spotlight (nd). Avaialble at: http://www.ibizaspotlight.com/ibizamagic/history_i.htm Accessed 9 December 2013