Click Bait Forums Confusing the Real Ibiza Problem

Happy September!

I’ve been reading through a few Ibiza forums of late and the outrage from a certain segment shows no sign of stopping anytime soon. Clickbait posts and blogs (I know that’s a bit rich coming from me) about the modern day Ibiza with faux shock and horror. 

Too expensive! VIP culture! Overpriced restaurants! RIP-off services! Housing crisis! 

It’s all relative but it’s worth reminding ourselves of the reality rather than perception, which can be very different. 

Ibiza can be expensive. It’s had over a decade of incredible growth and as a tourist destination it’s expensive next to Turkey but cheap next to Monte Carlo so where’s the barometer start & finish exactly? There’s been a boom over the last 15 years and prices have increased exponentially but the island was undervalued for many years which was part of its charm. It was gloriously hippy chic and you could live on the island for relatively little money. 

But that was then and this is now. The market changed around 2010 and the new religion of social media meant that all the myths and secrets weren’t so secret anymore. Ibiza opened up to the world and sold its soul to the god of money. Truth be told, it had been doing it for decades but the market pushed up prices to levels that the older ibicencan generation could only have dreamed of, the spoils became bigger.

But here’s the rub. Ibiza’s perennial secret is reinventing itself when it has to so if the 5 star VIP market dries up then you can be rest assured that things will change ‘pronto’. It always takes a couple of years to drip through and readjust but it will happen if it needs to, as sure as as night follows day. 

Overpriced restaurants? Absolutely but that’s a mark of a world class destination and what is ‘overpriced’ anyway? Some of the finest gastronomy can be found on the white isle these days but guess what, you don’t have to go there. You can easily go to a local restaurant and eat delicious food for a fraction of the price. Delicious Paella and bottle of wine for less than €50 is easy to find if you don’t follow the herd.

Also let’s not forget that Spain is one of the cheaper places in Europe for a trolley full of food from the supermarket.

Ask yourself a question. Why do so many people want to live on the island? There’s jobs all over Spain, all over Europe yet the workers want here. I’d hazard a guess and say that one of the main reasons is that Ibiza affords a way of life that is difficult to compare. There’s no life like island life

Anyway, I digress. Of all the negatives I read online there’s only one that is truly important, the rest is manageable and market driven. The lack of housing for essential workers is now at crisis point. The big companies have a duty to house their own staff, it’s on them but nurses, doctors and teachers aren’t as lucky. 

Make no mistake. The rest is just petty griping with a bit of jealousy thrown in but when the person who’s job it is to save lives can’t find or afford to live on the island then we are all in trouble, as you never know, it could be you or your loved ones who have to pay the consequences. 

I wrote about the housing crisis 7 years ago and I’m sad to say that across 2 separate island governments nothing has changed, it’s as bad as it’s ever been and videos of tent villages and rows of camper vans only confirm a major problem that is growing fast.

So when you are reading those click bait forums that offer only problems and no solutions understand that, like anywhere, Ibiza has its challenges and is not to everyone’s liking but when the push comes to shove there’s only one real problem that needs urgent attention. The rest is just garnish.