Category: Local News

‘Let Food Be Thy Medicine and Medicine Be Thy Food’ – Hippocrates

HERE’S 50 IBIZA TASTE SENSATIONS TO TICK OFF YOUR LIST IN 2025

1. Getting giddy on a full bottle of HIERBAS left on the table or drinking FRIGOLA for “medicinal’ purposes only, local drinks that blow your socks off. 
2. Eating traditional deserts FLAO and BUÑOLES even though you’re full
3. Drinking a fruity GnT at CAFE MAMBO/MINT LOUNGE
4. Savouring the incredible tortilla at CAN COSMI, Santa Agnes
5. A piping hot mouthful of ARROZ DE MATANZA and a large plate SOFRIT PAGES – the ultimate comfort food at CA’S PAGÈS in San Carlos
6. Wandering down the restaurant street in SANTA EUALIA looking at all the menus
7. Drinking champagne and watching the fun unfold at O BEACH IBIZA
8. Enjoying a boozy night out with friends in the WEST END
9. Drinking rum and coke at Hï IBIZA
10. Eating a juicy steak at CAN PILOT, San Rafael
11. Taking friends to the amazing SA CAPELLA restaurant in an old church for the first time
12. Sipping drinks and admiring the views at BLUE MARLIN
13. Eating TRADITIONAL FOOD in a neighbours garage on a wet winter Sunday
14. Nasi Goreng in double quick time at RITA’S CANTINA
15. Tapas served with a smile at RINCON DE PEPE
16. Smelling freshly baked pastries  at CROISSANT SHOW
17. Drinking home made VINO PAYES in the winter and waking up the next day with a thick head
18. Small scrummy plates or food on low stools at BAR COSTA in the square at SANTA GERTRUDIS
19. Buying a drink at a SUPER CLUB and saying “sorry, how much”. 
20. LONG WINTER LUNCHES that go on for hours
21. Eating lobster paella washed down with cava sangria at CALA BASSA BEACH CLUB
22. Watching LIVE MUSIC in a local bar drinking a cheap caña
23. Going to LIO every 2 years then talking about the bill for 2 years.
24. Eating a FISH GRILL on wooden chairs listening to waves at CAN PUJOL
25. Enjoying a peaceful lunch in the square at SAN FRANCISCO, Formentera
26. Drinking CAFE CALETA after a delicious lunch at Sa Caleta
27. Going out for a QUICK DRINK and getting back at 7am
28. Eating a superb MENU DEL DIA with friends at TABERNA CEBO for a little over a tenner. 
29. A very fulfilling Sunday lunch at PIKES and then staying for the carry on
30. Picking the bones out of a delicious BULLIT DE PEIX at Cala Mastella
31. Huge portions of tapas at KAIXO in Ibiza Town
32. Savouring a glass of LOCAL VINO and a slice of bread and SOBRASADA from the pop up huts for 2 euros
33. Drinking CAN RICH or IBIZKUS – wine from the island 
34. Being invited to a ‘DRINK ON THE HOUSE’ after a good meal (see point 1)
35. Buying a fresh T-bone steak from CARNES MARCH
36. Scoffing a full English breakfast with a hangover at FATSO’S in San Antonio 
37. Drinking a spicy Bloody Mary then savouring a scrumptious Sunday lunch at RELISH
38. Eating freshly prepared food at CASA THAI San Antonio
39. Watching Jim make an incredible GnT at PARADISE LOST BAR in D’alt Vila
40. Having an ‘extended’ lunch at TROPICANA on CALA JONDAL beach
41. Doing the Conga around BESO BEACH after a boozy lunch
42. Eating delicious GELATO ICE CREAM on Vara de Rey in Ibiza Town or next to the church in San Antonio on a warm summers night
43. Ice cold strawberry daiquiris in the sunshine at CALA ESCONDIDO 
44. Savouring the freshest fish at the FISH SHACK in Talamanca
45. Eating delicious food at ‘TAPAS’ in San Antonio
46. Having an expensive lunch at JUAN Y ANDREA and remembering when it used to be a shack on the beach
47. Eating a delicious PIZZA at untold amount of places  
48. Sitting on the rocks watching the SUNSET with a can of beer from LIDL
49. Stuffing 12 grapes in your mouth and making 12 wishes at the stroke of midnight on NEW YEARS EVE
50. Sharing these special moments with family and friends

Happy New Year!

A couple of weeks ago I was in Benidorm for our annual Ibiza Cricket Club tour where the town was celebrating its fiesta week. The closing event is arguably the biggest fancy dress party in Europe where tens of thousands of people take to the streets in varying qualities of costumes to drink and be merry. The atmosphere is fantastic with a feel good feeling throughout. 

One of the reasons I love visiting Benidorm is because it’s the polar opposite of Ibiza, it’s one of the the least pretentious places you’ll ever visit. It’s big and in your face with massive hotels at every turn, everything is focused on tourism. It’s great value for money, in the main bars it’s 3 euros for a big bottle of beer, 2 euros for a bottle of water, 5 euros for a Guinness, 5 for a GnT. 

When you eat, the portions are generous, the service is usually informed and excellent and Benidorm old town has superb tapas restaurants equal to anywhere I’ve visited in Spain.

Benidorm is a great example of why competition is healthy. So many places offering similar services so prices are competitive with your next door neighbour, otherwise you will struggle. It’s an unashamedly price driven destination and it doesn’t hide it, compared to Ibiza it’s great value for money. It’s not to everyone’s taste but then again neither is Ibiza but Benidorm knows its market and focuses on that. It doesn’t try to be something it’s not and is all the better for it. 

During Benidorm’s big fancy dress party a few said to me that it would be great if Ibiza did something similar but I couldn’t disagree any more. Ibiza doesn’t want or need this type of business. I hate to use the C word but cheaper tourism isn’t something Ibiza should covet. Like Benidorm and other destinations the White Isle has positioned itself in the marketplace but as an up-market destination where things are ‘reassuringly expensive’. This might annoy some of the old school who still wear rose tinted glasses from the 70s but the numbers don’t lie, Ibiza has been booming for over a decade.

Of course ‘reassuringly expensive’ is OK as long as you can back it up with quality and service and those businesses in Ibiza that rip people off should be called out and this is when social media comes in very handy, a bad business has nowhere to hide these days. 

Ibiza has world class bars, restaurants, nightclubs and beach clubs run by some of the best entrepreneurs in the world. They don’t do it for charity, they do it to succeed and in turn make money. This is good business for everyone because if they aren’t as good as they think they are then they are quickly found out and the next one moves in. There’s always a few charlatans in the mix looking for a quick buck but Ibiza tends to spit them out.

Short haul tourism is constantly evolving and the the biggest challenge Ibiza businesses face is that the ‘herd’ now come over for a only a few nights and try to cram in as much as possible, most of it pre-planned and paid for so if your name is not on the social media driven must-do list then you need to fight even harder to survive but if you can succeed then the spoils are more than worth the effort. Many small Ibiza acorns are now flourishing oak trees. 

When you book to go to Benidorm you know exactly what you get and it’s the same for Ibiza. Two completely distinct destinations speaking the same language but in entirely different ways and united in their desire to succeed and keep their clients happy.

Benidorm and Ibiza are the same in many ways but entirely different in others, and like the big Beni fancy dress party, this should be celebrated.

Food, like many things goes through fads and fashions – haute cuisine, nouvelle cuisine – but there are a few dishes that are timeless and never go out of fashion.

Unlike our European cousins, namely the French, Italians and Spanish, us Brits aren’t well known for our high level of food sophistication however 1 dish seems to always stand the tests of time (and I ain’t taking about fish and chips!). 

The traditional Sunday roast conjures up a thousand memories, growing up it’s what Sundays are made of. Mine are of my Mum slaving over a hot stove preparing the full works only for me and my brother to moan and my Dad in his element savouring every mouthful before falling asleep in his armchair with a Sunday movie playing in the background. Like many things, roast dinners are wasted on the young, it takes a few years of maturity to fully grasp how delicious they are but get there I did. 

Therefore it pleases me to report that the traditional Sunday roast is the new Ibiza winter ‘battleground’ for a local hospitality industry looking to capitalise on a growing captive market.

Charlie Chester, that wily old dog, caught the scent early and last winter his Wow Sundays became very popular as it mixed food with Jo Mills’ fun Escucha brand and it became an all day Sunday party for island people.. This winter he’s transferred the same concept to The Standard in Ibiza Town and if there’s a better placed venue on the island then I don’t know where it is. It’s early days but by all accounts it’s been another rip roaring success.

During the summer Pikes, the famous rock n roll hotel, offered a superb Sunday roast and as afternoon became evening and then night the party stayed right there fuelled by its delicious food. Relish in San Antonio Bay does an excellent roast in the summer and also a bloody mean Bloody Mary, ideal bedfellows and comfort food after an excessive Saturday night. Even Cafe Mambo started offering it towards the end of summer!

This winter Taberna Cebo continues to offer the Sunday roast experience courtesy of their experienced British chef Spike. Big portions of steaming hot veg and a choice of meats in a lively local surrounding is a winner and usually sells out every week. Vitamin Sea down the road from Cebo also offers high quality weekend food and Project Social in Santa Eulalia is always good fayre and their Sunday roast is no different garnering great reviews.

Can Mimosa in Santa Gertrudis comes highly recommended as does Roto in Ibiza Town and now Smoke in Cala Llonga (from the same owners of Shanti) have added to the growing list of Sunday roast lunch providers with a tasty menu that promises to be very popular.

I’m sure there’s plenty more out there and it’s good news for your Sunday lunch options for when a paella doesn’t quite tick the boxes but a full traditional roast does. It signals the way Ibiza is going with a growing and more discerning expat population looking for quality family fayre in the winter and personally I’m all in!

1. Ibiza Summer 24 was good for a few but tough for many. After the post pandemic, champagne popping boom we had the inevitable lull in proceedings (when the whole world realised they didn’t have to cram everything into a few months) and while the big businesses continued to flourish the secondary businesses continued to struggle. The average stay is getting shorter so tourists pre-plan to the last detail and can only cram in a finite number of experiences which is great if your business is on that particular list but not so good if it ain’t. Word of the season from business owners is ‘Rollercoaster’. From midweek with no one about and not much to do to packed weekends with not enough staff and unable to accommodate everyone. The current Ibiza business model can be bewildering. 

2. UNVRS will have a big effect on Ibiza’s clubland. In an already busy marketplace the world’s first ‘HYPERCLUB’ (who knew that was even a word) is set to open in May 2025 and the ripples will be felt far and wide. The mythical nightclub formerly known as Ku and then Privilege is having a 40 million euros facelift and with its new 8000 capacity The Night League will want to make a real statement after creating Ushuaia and Hï from a blank page and taking them into the upper echelons of world clubbing. This is TNL’s CEO Yann Pissenem’s legacy right here  – the biggest club in the world on the biggest party island in the world. It doesn’t get any bigger than this but the fallout could be spectacular for some. Look at the businesses that withered and died after Ushuaia changed the game in 2010. (Apologies for the overuse of the word BIG but this is…BIG).

3. Has the Ibiza housing crisis peaked? After almost a decade of this issue staring them squarely in the face, the local and regional governments are finally getting busy and bringing in new legislation to help with housing. Nothing will change overnight (when does it ever in Ibiza) but there seems to be a general acknowledgment that things can’t continue as they are with waste grounds and shorelines being converted into caravan parks and shanty towns popping up all over the island. It’s as bad as it’s ever been, the desire to live in Ibiza is as strong as ever but when nurses, doctors and police are leaving in droves citing housing issues then the situation is untenable and that’s where we’re at.

4. Ibiza’s continuing marginalisation of kids and families. It’s strange to think that Ibiza used to be the archetypal family resort. ‘Fiestaland’ in Playa den Bossa which included Ushuaia, Ushuaia Tower, Hard Rock Hotel and the Hotel Bahamas (before they were all renamed of course) plus Aguamar waterpark (remember that?) was a nirvana for those beautiful little ankle biters but this is now just a hazy, distant memory as Ibiza continues to worship at the church of disposable income. The new business model is solely lazered in on adults with cold hard cash to burn who come for a few days (so you don’t even have to be nice to them for too long). If you are a family then there’s a few all inclusive complexes scattered around the island at eye watering prices that are full to the rafters with screaming kids so while Mallorca doubles down trying to attract a family audience, Ibiza continues to distance itself from those pesky kids who get in the way of their parents waving their phones in the air and dining out at swanky overpriced restaurants and posting it all on social media.

5. Tourismophobia is an actual thing. Never mind that tourism is responsible for almost all of Ibiza’s economy and in 2020 we all saw exactly what happens when it’s taken away, the mass gatherings on the streets have started, mirroring those that have being taking place in other Spanish hotspots such as the Canary Islands. For now the ‘demands’ are quite reasonable such as limiting private jets (why not), banning large cruise boats (hell yeah), ending the commercialisation of beaches (err maybe but who’s going to bring me my 25 euro mojito?), restricting vehicles and improving public transport (yes please). However you get the feeling that this is only the tip of the iceberg with the real radicals waiting in the wings to stir the pot and call for a complete tourism ban so we can resurrect the salt industry. Whatever way you look at it, something has got to give and incidentally exactly where is all that tourist tax money being spent?

Honourable Mentions

•Cars may soon become a luxury item if the proposed clamp down (see what I did there) on excess vehicles comes to fruition so DON’T sell that clapped out old Ford Fiesta!

•Don’t wear an expensive watch on the island especially if you’re driving to a well known restaurant in an expensive car otherwise you might as well put a flashing sign on your head to alert potential thieves.

•Don’t complain to the chef about your food otherwise you might end up in hospital.

•Don’t get involved with any island documentaries that promise to show the ‘real Ibiza’, they will end up focussing almost entirely on drugs (ad nauseam).

•Waving your phone in the air whilst filming the next ‘big’ DJ (insert name here) will become compulsory in some venues in 2025 whilst others may have the foresight to ban them totally.

Summer 2024 – that’s all folks!

Listen to my Man In San An PODCAST on Apple or Spotify. ‘My Ibiza Journey’ with Island people talking about their Ibiza experiences plus the new ‘Talking Balearics’ with Richie Prior, a weekly current affairs programme covering the latest news from the Balearic archipelago.

LISTEN ON APPLE PODACSTS

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Around 1200 people came together in late September under the banner of ‘Canviem el Rumb’ or ‘Let’s change Course’ to give it an English translation. 

In a change to the more radical protests and anti tourist sentiment the platform came together to call for limits on Ibiza’s current tourism model and action against the social and ecological crisis that has accelerated in recent years. 

The protest group point to problems such as beach overcrowding, potential droughts and criticising local government for continuing to allow unrestricted watering of tropical gardens in luxury houses, the building of luxury villas with swimming pools and using water reserves on tourist facilities. They also attacked the simultaneous arrival of cruise ships, mega yachts and private jets.

Their manifesto also focussed on the Ibiza housing crisis pointing at workers living in tents and those who have had to leave the island due to difficulties of finding reasonably priced housing. “For many years we have been told that tourism generated wealth, prosperity and progress. But after so many seasons of record tourist arrivals, where is that wealth?” they ask. 

The platform considers that it still possible to “get the situation back on track” making a series of requests such as limiting the arrival of aeroplanes at Ibiza’s airport, prohibiting or setting limits on private jets, cruise ships and mega yachts. 

They also demanded limits on rental vehicles and improving public transport. Among their proposals is the more polarising request to restrict the purchase of houses by non-residents plus a call to end the privatisation and commercialisation of beaches, regulating rental prices and ensuring that infrastructure such as roads “are paid for by tourism” as well as putting an end to the tourist promotion of Ibiza and Formentera using public money.

“The decrease in tourism is a demand that we make to the administrations, but it is also a brave commitment that we must make together,” they stated in the manifesto. “This current model is beginning to collapse,” they concluded.

The pressure is now on Balearic law makers to try to navigate their way through rocky waters where there is a continuing discontent to the White Isles direction of travel and where disparities are only getting wider.

As the summer season draws to a close and the island becomes quieter it’s a good time to reflect on the way forward but what is clear is that these types of protests will only become more frequent if new legislation isn’t brought in or the perception of tourists first and residents second isn’t addressed at some level.

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. 

When the dust settles on Ibiza summer 2024, barring a September miracle, the records will show that it didn’t quite go as planned.

After the post pandemic boom it hasn’t been a bust but it has been a reality check. After 2 years of record breaking numbers, this summer has flattered to deceive. The usual blue chip businesses are busy as usual (just look on social media) but the rest are fighting over the scraps. In all truth, if you scratch away at the surface, it’s been a struggle for many businesses to survive.

The Ibiza way of ‘stack it high and….keep pushing up the prices’ has become tiresome for a generation of island lovers who now look to Turkey and the east Mediterranean for their annual fix of fun in the sun at a price where they don’t have to sell a kidney to pay the bill.

Whereas before there was a conveyor belt of youngsters ready to fill the gap, the entry level tourists have become more difficult to attract due to high prices and a perception that Ibiza has sold its soul in return for pure profit.

If this market is dwindling then it’s more important than ever to work with what we have and make sure they return. The historical Ibiza way of making money while not overly focussing on customer service is wearing thin. Even the top end is growing weary of it, bookings at the expensive restaurants are being replaced by local eateries offering good service.

Ibiza is top of the tree in so many ways but customer experience isn’t one of them and this is the root of the problem. Compare it to others places in the north or south of mainland Spain and you will instantly understand.

The businesses that are doing well on the White Isle are those that look after their customers so that they continually return. Many businesses have profited from the rise of Ibiza but just the name doesn’t cut it anymore with so much competition around

The feedback is that Ibiza has been found wanting with its customer focus, preferring to put profits first. Longevity comes from providing an experience coupled with the right balance of price for your product.

As the younger market is being marginalised the island needs its customers to return more than ever and the experience they have when here is key. We know Ibiza has what other destinations can only dream of but a reset in the way we treat our most precious commodity isn’t a bad idea either.

Last week I had drinks and dinner at a rooftop restaurant in San Antonio bay, I hadn’t booked a table but took my chances anyway. I needn’t have worried as the place wasn’t even half full. As I drove home just after midnight there was hardly a car on the road. I checked my calendar and it was definitely mid-July. Very curious.

In my business world I’ve listed more properties for sale in a month than I have in a year yet enquiries are only dripping through where I thought there would be a flood of requests to view. Very curious indeed.

Meanwhile checking UK flights to Ibiza in August, the prices have been slashed to the bone. £80-£130 return for the first week in August. Even more curious.

Is it just me or is Ibiza strangely quiet this summer? I’ve read the same about Mallorca however speaking to friend, he told me that Benidorm is packed to rafters and on its way to a record summer.

Is it time to face up to the truth yet? Has Ibiza priced itself out of the mainstream market? While the same 10 businesses clean up, the rest are fighting over the scraps, which isn’t pretty and will only get worse once the peak summer weeks come to an end.

Ibiza’s hotel prices are the highest in Spain (its property prices are amongst the highest too), the White Isle has shown amazing growth over the last 10 years but has the mass market been marginalised? Is Ibiza now a luxury brand only attracting a niche market during the high season while the mainstream market enjoy the buzz and bargains in Benidorm and the value of the eastern Med (Greece, Cyprus, Turkey and Egypt)?

The Ibiza golden goose appears to be coughing and spluttering on a post-pandemic comedown that will concern many small businesses that rely on the busy high season weeks to prop up their balance sheet.

After a few record years, 2024 has an over capacity of flights coupled with expensive hotel prices and an infrastructure and taxi network that struggles during peak times. Ibiza is going through a challenging period.

We’ve been here before of course and the island is very good at reinventing itself and finding new ways to survive. Ibiza has some of the best entrepreneurs in the world but this time many hotels and other businesses are on long term leases at sky high prices so it’s hard to see where the peak season discounts will come from. Airlines have discounted, will hotels follow? I doubt it.

Let’s see what happens over the next 8 weeks as things can change very quickly but with 70€ for a sunbed, 35€ for a caesar salad, 6€ for half a beer, 23€ for a cocktail and 19€ for a Gin n Tonic now becoming the norm on top of that spiralling hotel bill……as the old saying goes “you can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time”.

Thomas Wesley Pentz, a 45 year old American DJ and music producer – known professionally as Diplo – has been in the news this week.

In all his and his management team’s wisdom they organised a ‘secret party’ on the viewpoint overlooking Es Vedra, one of the most iconic natural beauty spots in Ibiza.

As is the way these days they plastered it all over Instagram for maximum coverage of their coolness but there is a slight problem. This is a protected area with special laws to stop this specific kind of activity.

The Spanish islands have been in the news a lot lately. There’s been an uprising of locals protesting about the saturation of tourism and the effect it’s having on the environment and living conditions for residents. So you can imagine the furore when Mr Pentz’s videos and photos were uploaded, it was fuel on the fire, the natives were not happy.

In their eyes it’s just another example of the tourism machine doing what it wants, when it wants with no thought for anything or anyone else.

DJ Diplo is now the shining light of disrespect, the spiritual leader of the ‘we don’t give a fuck’ gang, the boss of giving the finger to the locals and their laws.

I’m sure his friends and management will jump to his defence saying he didn’t realise it was such a controversial thing to do and he didn’t mean to offend anyone but that doesn’t matter. He did it.

I’m one of those offended that the special place I go to watch the sunset over Es Vedra was even more saturated by a sweaty mob, cheering and swaying to his music. Es Vedra is our Ayers Rock, it (or she as some say) belongs to no one and everyone. It’s arguably the most iconic spot on the island and is a sanctuary for those looking for some peace, tranquility and, dare I say it, spirituality.

For Mr Pentz to use it to promote himself, his night at Pacha and boost his Instagram profile is not just crude, it’s downright disrespectful and shows how out of touch he is with the island. What’s more it gives the anti-tourist zealots even more reasons to jump up and down and decry the most important commodity the island possesses.

The authorities have threatened to fine him thousands of euros and I sincerely hope they do although I doubt it will ever see the light of court.

It doesn’t matter to be honest because the damage has been done, the anti-tourist mob have their poster boy and Diplo, the entitled DJ, with his hundred million dollar estate in Jamaica, his chauffeur driven black Mercedes minivan with complimentary drinks is that man.

While DJ Dipstick departs on his private jet, the rest of us, who live here reliant of tourism, are left to read the sensationalist headlines, fend off the radicals and pick up the pieces. I hope he’s proud of himself but as long as his 6.2 million Instagram followers enjoyed it, I suppose that’s all that matters.

The Ibiza peak summer season is almost upon as we head towards July. It’s probably an age thing as the summer seems to be flying by but the word on the street isn’t as good as we were hoping for.

After a post pandemic boom, where travel was back with a bang and people grabbed it with both hands, 2022 and 2023 were record years for Ibiza but 2024 is proving a little more challenging. It’s not a chronic situation, more of a puzzling one. Flights coming in half empty, hotels busy only at weekends, the villa market struggling, property market static – lots of challenges are happening all over this island in 2024

Maybe we have become complacent but the big talking point as usual is has Ibiza out-priced itself? There’s a few answers to that one but perception and reality are 2 different things. The good news is that it’s still possible to come to Ibiza on a budget (low season, hostals, menu del dia etc) and have an incredible time but the reality is that if you want to live like a rockstar while you’re here then expect to pay accordingly. There is a choice to be made but at least there is a choice.

Throw into the mix some negative press headlines (nothing new there), high flight prices (especially at weekends), hotels holding their nerve with rates and, unlike other resorts, Ibiza in general doesn’t do discounts and tends to stick to its pricing policy. Many accommodation providers would rather their places stay empty than discount to a lower end of the market which brings problems and very little profit margin.

Keeping your powder dry for another day only works if that other day comes and that’s what is concerning Ibiza businesses in 2024. The summer madness will come but for how long? We are almost in July and the island isn’t as busy as we were expecting.

At times like these it’s important to remember the dynamic. Without tourism we are nothing. The radicals won’t like to hear it but it’s the truth. It’s easy to sneer at tourists even though the island relies on them but during these moments it’s more important than ever to appreciate them and treat them with a respect that most do but some don’t deserve.

It’s too easy to point the finger at a ‘certain type’ of tourism but other destinations are no different and in many ways, far worse. As locals there is tendency to roll your eyes at a group of tourists staggering down the street after a long day at a beach club or the morning after a big party. Offensive or abusive behaviour should never be tolerated but scowling at tourists for having a good time isn’t cool either.

As an Ibiza business community we all need to do our bit so next time you see a tourist acting a bit strange or behaving in a fashion that doesn’t fit in with your own, instead of tutting remind yourself that tourists coming to Ibiza and enjoying themselves is what the Island was built on and long may it continue.

A little humility goes a long way so instead of a physical shrug, give those tourists a virtual hug and be thankful that they chose to come to Ibiza. The island is still at the top of the tree and still the coolest destination on the planet but nothing should ever be taken for granted.