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Ibiza reaching capacity, says island's tourist board
The famed party destination of Ibiza cannot handle its ever-increasing tourism market, according to the island’s tourism bureau.
Speaking to Pulse, Vincente Torres, director of the Ibiza Department of Tourism said that the island has a “limited capacity”, and that the constant increase in tourism was unsustainable.
Party tourism – which is the backbone of Ibiza’s economy – is beginning to prove as much a blight as it is a blessing for the tourist hotspot, which is expected to record record visitor numbers in 2016.
Tourist numbers far outweigh the island’s population – around 13,000 – with Ibiza offering nearly 100,000 beds for tourism.
According to Torres, the rise has had an impact on infrastructure such as roads, the environment and levels of clean drinking water, of which the supply is limited.
To try and lessen the impact, Ibiza’s local government introduced a Sustainable Tourism Tax on 1 July, with tourists aged 16 or over paying a daily surcharge of 50 cents per person per night in hotels and campsites and a €2 charge for those in luxury hotels and upmarket apartments. That tax is cut in half if a tourist stays for more than eight nights. The tax will be used to pay for projects in order to recover areas that have been spoiled, among other things such as training people for social projects.
In addition to party-goers, Ibiza also offers a multitude of tourist attractions, most significantly its World heritage areas, with the island being added to Unesco’s World Heritage list in 1999. Because of its vibrant scene, the island attracts a number of unique projects, such as Lio Malca’s salt warehouse contemporary art gallery and Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté’s multi-sensory restaurant, theatre and dance venue. The island also attracts the annual Ibiza Rocks summer music festival and hosts the annual Sant Ciriac Festival in the first week of August.
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