Month: June 2020

Coming out of the Ibiza lockdown has been like emerging from a long dark tunnel into glorious bright sunshine, we’ve come a very long way in a few short weeks.

Since we’ve been ‘released from house arrest’ the Island has never been so beautiful in the warm summer air without tourists. It’s given us all a new appreciation of where we live. Free of traffic, free of pollution, free of white legs and red shoulders but also free of income and prosperity.

Unfortunately in the busy, modern world you can’t have your cake and eat it and as beautiful as this Ibiza is, it needs tourism like humans need oxygen, the island simply can’t function without it. What type of tourism is a separate debate for another day but for now we need to get the Ibiza economy back up and running. It’s time to get back to work.

Those looking for a cheap peak season holiday might not like our prices but this backs up the Ibiza brand and an unwillingness to compromise. You won’t see Monaco or Switzerland dump their prices either and Ibiza is stronger because it knows it’s own value and understands that massively discounting is counterproductive attracting the wrong market and devaluing the product. Better to have 6 good weeks than 12 bad ones.

As in any situation there are winners and losers to emerge from the lockdown ashes and yet again the West End of San Antonio has been unfairly targeted by politicians hundreds of miles away on a different island.

Whatever your opinion on this hot potato of an area, to deny the many local families, who rely on it, the chance of a livelihood during the worst economic crisis in modern times is unfair at best and downright criminal at worst. It can’t be right that one street can open but the next one can’t as long as everyone follows the letter of the law. It’s the tourists who should decide whether a business is successful, not petty rivalries between opposing politicians.

The fact that San Antonio Town Hall is powerless to oppose the restrictions imposed on the West End speaks volumes of the nature of Balearic politics. The Balearic Government is yet another needless layer of overpaid bureaucrats looking to justify their existence on a daily basis. In my opinion decisions that affect the local population should be administered by the democratically elected local town hall along with the island council, not a group of 3rd party arbiters who have limited knowledge about the genuine situation on the ground.

The West End’s short term future may be in the balance but the big winner of the post lockdown weeks has been Formentera which has been inundated with day tourists. Many locals who wouldn’t usually have the time or inclination to visit have been taking the trip and enthusing about the paradise island and it’s beauty.

They say that the cream always rises to the top and, after many feared for Formentera, the smallest habitable Balearic island has in fact seen plenty of visitors with long queues for ferries and busy beaches.

Of course it hasn’t been the same as with ‘genuine’ tourists but Formentera’s reputation for nature and beauty has soared and this is something that money simply can’t buy. As the world gets busier you can always rely on the F-word to deliver in a calm and classy way.

As international flights start to arrive, the local population get back to work and the island slowly recovers, summer 2020 promises to be like no other. Ibiza will be different this year and it could be THE year to discover its genuine charms whilst basking in it’s beautiful glow and unique atmosphere. There’s only one way to find out……

Friday 13th March. Life as we know it was about to change as Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez took many (including me) by surprise and announced that a state of alarm (SOA) would begin in 2 days because of the global pandemic. He then added to the confusion by bringing it forward a day. Confusion would be the theme from here on in.

Sunday 14 March. The Ibiza streets were still busy with families going about their usual business, many in blissful ignorance.

Monday 15 March. The local Police, Civil Protection Agency and the Guardia Civil got to work clearing the streets and reality started to hit home, this wasn’t a drill.

So started 14 long weeks of lockdown which finished at midnight last night. 98 days where social media was the forum of choice as hearsay, rumours and conjecture became the common currency. Facebook groups started to cover information, conspiracy and advice. ‘Ibiza Winter Residents’ became eerily quiet so we knew it must be serious.

Parents became the new teachers overseeing the homeschooling of their children and dogs were allowed out for exercise and had more freedom than most. Ibiza’s population stepped up and the hashtags #QuedateEnCasa and #StayAtHome began to circulate.

Local authorities fined the law breakers using drones and roadblocks became commonplace. Daily press conferences gave updates as we crunched the numbers and became a an extra in our own horror movie.

Queues for supermarkets became longer but the clamour for toilet rolls died down. The Balearics stayed near the bottom of the contagions league table but Can Misses converted an operating theatre into an intensive care ward just in case.

Fernando Simon of Spain’s Ministry of Health became a familiar face on local TV and Lesley Donald revealed that she had a secret crush on him, who’d have thought this strange looking man would become a sex symbol.

Eventually kids were allowed out but a convoluted exercise timetable meant that seniors couldn’t mix with kids and adults either had to have an early walk or a sunset stroll. Many did what they thought they could but in fact they couldn’t even though others were. Confused? You bet we were!

Life slowly returned to some form of normality, dogs lost their unique privileges and the rumour mill now went into overdrive while banks and landlords still charged there monthly fees even though most on the white isle wasn’t working or had no prospect of employment this year.

The numbers dropped but Ibiza continued to be cut off from the world, great for containment but not so good when trying to kickstart the local economy.

Hope started to filter through as the dominoes began to fall and restrictions were lifted. Ibiza became a dystopian paradise where beaches and roads were empty, car parking was plentiful but no tourism meant no jobs or income for many. The line between ‘the haves’ and ‘the have-nots’ had never been clearer.

Now after nearly 100 days it’s time to get back to a new normality where we try to claw back what we’ve lost but do it as only Ibiza knows how, with style and a naughty smile.

Many lockdown lessons have been learned and even through the darkest days solidarity shined through. Let’s hope that Ibiza emerges softer, more aware of itself, more welcoming but also not prepared to sell its soul for the tourist dollar.

Thanks to everyone who read and shared my updates during the crisis. Special thanks to the amazingly energetic Lesley Donald who will continue to post on all forums until there are no numbers to talk of , the wily ‘Lady’ Tricia Templeton whose common sense and wit kept us going and Julian Cobby for his acerbic daily take on the unfolding events before us.

It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions where hope and positivity always shined through. Please let us never have to do it again but if we do please let me be in Ibiza with a cupboard full of wine, a sunset view and an internet connection.

The nature of clubbing is close contact, being together with a crowd so, under the circumstances, it was always going to be one of the last things to go back to normal.

It was a badly kept secret that the Ibiza super clubs probably weren’t going to open this summer but the news still hit hard, the clubbing scene is part of the fabric of the island, it’s woven into it’s soul. It’s disappointing but life on the White Isle will go on and, although some might tell you differently, there is definitely more to Ibiza than the super clubs.

More important right now is the connectivity so tourists can actually get here. The announcement last Saturday that Spain will open its borders next week, a week earlier than expected caught many (including myself) by surprise but reflects the Spanish government’s need to kick start the ecomony with tourism being top of it’s priority list.

The fact that, along with most of the Schengen area, the UK is included on the list of countries welcome to enter Spain from 22 June tells it’s own story especially as the UK is several weeks behind the rest of Europe and still hasn’t got the virus under complete control but it’s a straightforward risk/reward situation for the Spanish Government, ban tourism for longer and the country will suffer more hardship, open up in time for the peak summer season and hope that it’s citizens can scrape enough money together to get through a long winter while avoiding another spike.

They might give us an edge but the Ibiza brand is so much more than clubs and this new scenario might give smaller businesses who’ve previously been suffocated a better chance of success. There will be a big gap in the market but the island has plenty of entrepreneurs who specialise in coming up with new ideas to keep the paying public occupied and happy. The Ibiza 2020 experience will be different but it will still be inescapably Ibiza.

Sunrises, delicious food, beautiful sandy beaches, glorious sunshine, amazing vistas, cool bars, crystal clear waters, chilled beach clubs, magical sunsets, friendly locals (who will appreciate tourists like never before), an island steeped in culture and heritage where the beautiful people love to hang out, an island that will still keep serving up magic like it has for many decades and did long before ‘Ushuaia’ became more than a city in southern Argentina.

This summer will be different but there will be a summer and after the dark days of virtual house arrest only a few weeks ago it feels amazing just to be able to say that. Ignore the negative people, this really is THE year to discover one of the most beautiful places on earth so book a ticket, open your mind and prepare to fall in love all over again.

Ibiza is the guilty pleasure that you can’t ignore, this year it might be a little more demure but rest assured it still has that naughty glint in it’s eye.

There are many conspiracy theories going around at the moment but the biggest one is right on our doorstep. There’s a popular misconception that Ibiza won’t have a summer season when we are already having one. Beaches are busy, bars are bustling, the atmosphere is good and all this without tourists.

The majority of the Schengen area will start to open up from 15 June with Spain following on 01 July so unless there’s a dramatic spike in virus numbers there’s going to be a summer whether the doom mongers like it or not. Fellow European countries with low infection rates are more or less back to normal and are now booking flights with confidence. Life goes on in mainland Europe.

The big anomaly is the British factor. While Europe went into an early lockdown the British borders remained open. Now that contagions are going down and Europe is opening up the UK has brought in a 14 day quarantine period for international arrivals which has sent their travel industry into even further chaos.

It’s a side swipe that doesn’t make any sense. The time for a quarantine was at the start of the crisis when travellers were bringing the virus with them, what’s the point in bringing it in now when most of Europe has a lower infection rate than the UK?

An unworkable and resource heavy quarantine means that many will just ignore it anyway, when Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary was asked on TV yesterday whether Ryanair would cancel flights, he said: “No, because the flights are full outbound of the UK. British people are ignoring this quarantine, they know it’s rubbish.”

When sworn enemies BA, Easyjet and Ryanair come together you know the world has gone slightly mad but these giants of the aviation industry have teamed up to take on the UK governments quarantine implementation in court. They know that this could be make or break for their summer flight program.

Another factor to consider is whether people will want to travel with all this going on. A YouGov poll yesterday suggested that only 15% of British want to travel abroad this year whereas it was just over 10% when you throw in the quarantine factor. Travel, post Covid, will be a completely different experience with longer queues, face masks and reduced capacity.

Last Friday I spoke to Hugh Elliott the British Ambassador to Spain and asked him if he thought there would be British tourists in Spain in July. His Excellency told me that he’s confident it will happen and that the respective governments are in constant dialogue with the possibility of a reciprocal airbridge agreement. The million dollar question though is at what level. My opinion is that is we get close to 50% of last year then it would be a minor miracle but it gives us something to aim for.

Yesterday Jet2 and their holiday offshoot, the 2nd biggest British tour operator on the island announced that they were starting flights again on 15 July. This wasn’t unexpected with all the confusion and mixed messages in the UK and is a more realistic start date. Easyjet will start flying to Ibiza mid July whilst Ryanair continue to offer cheap seats from early July. The UK airlines are trying their best but you can’t blame some of them for pushing back 2 further weeks to the start of the school holiday season when their load factors will be higher.

Meanwhile back on the White Isle life carries on in the ‘new normal’. Face masks have become a way of life but the café and bar terraces continue to be busy, the streets and beaches are bustling but there is still a big thing missing. Tourists.

Ibiza is open now for the local population and will be open to international tourists from 01 July. We are ready and waiting, this is fact not fiction. It will be a different experience from previous years but the Islands beauty and atmosphere can never be taken away.

Whether people will want the hassle of getting here is the big unknown in the equation but don’t get confused by the daily overload of ‘information’, Summer 2020 is happening.