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TOURISM

‘Like Covid never happened’: Ibiza’s nightclubs are back with a bang

After being closed for two years, Ibiza's famous mega-clubs have reopened their doors to the usual throngs of partygoers, as authorities on the tiny Spanish island try to strike a balance between tourism and sustainability.

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People party at the Pachá Ibiza nightclub in Eivissa in June 2022. (Photo by LLUIS GENE / AFP)

On a warm June night, the pandemic seems a distant memory.

A crowd dances to the pulsing beat of electronic music, hands in the air, at the Pacha nightclub near the main marina on the Mediterranean holiday island of Ibiza.

“It is like Covid never happened inside here,” said Michelle, a 31-year-old British healthcare worker at the entrance to the club, which is packed with 3,500 people.

“It has exceeded our expectations,” said Paloma Tur, the spokeswoman for Grupo Pacha which runs the hulking white nightclub that includes a rooftop terrace and garden.

“We still can’t say for certain that the numbers will be better than 2019, but everything indicates yes.”

As in many other venues, almost all of the famous nightclub’s 150 staff received help from a government furlough scheme during the pandemic when Pacha was shut.

Before the pandemic, tourism accounted for 84 percent of Ibiza’s gross domestic product, for which clubbing is a major draw. The health crisis was “a real disaster”, said Juan Miguel Costa of the island’s tourism board.

The pandemic affected all sectors but the leisure sector — which employs over 3,000 people directly and indirectly — was the last to fully open up after virus restrictions were lifted.

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Ibiza was a ‘hippie’ refuge in the 60s and 70s, but now the island is world famous as a mecca for tourists in search of its wild and glitzy nightlife. (Photo by LLUIS GENE / AFP)

Mass tourism complaints

Roberto de Lope, the director general of nightclub operator Ushuaia Entertainment, said it was a “relief” to finally open their club on the island on April 30th and start selling drinks.

“But we are still affected, with a lot of loans that we must pay back,” he added.

On the southeast coast of the island, one of the group’s clubs Hi Ibiza, which can hold 5,700 people, was preparing to open at midnight.

But the party was already in full swing across the street at its other venue, Ushuaia.

As the sun set over the Mediterranean, more than 7,000 tanned partygoers danced around the swimming pools of this outdoor club, which last year was only allowed to open its doors for a few days and with a reduced capacity.

Scotland’s Calvin Harris, one of the world’s top earning DJs, was performing that night.

Tickets at the door cost 90 euros ($95), and cocktails sold for around 20 euros.

But while the mega-clubs draw deep-pocketed tourists from around the globe, many Ibiza residents argue the island does not need to rely on hard partying to draw visitors.

They point out that Ibiza and the neighbouring island of Formentera drew 1.9 million tourists in 2021, a little more than half pre-pandemic numbers, even though most nightclubs were shut.

“I think Ibiza has realised that we don’t just live off parties,” said Jaume Ribas, the spokesman of an association called “Prou”, or “enough” in Catalan, which has for years lobbied against mass tourism on the island.

READ ALSO: Mallorca restaurants ban poorly dressed diners to stop booze tourism

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Thousands of revellers party at the famous Ushuaia nightclub in Ibiza two years after it closed. (Photo by LLUIS GENE / AFP)

‘Feel free’

Blessed with scores of stunning coves and beaches, Ibiza is home to just 152,000 people but its population swells to up to 450,000 during the peak summer holidays.

The influx causes traffic problems and has been blamed for a rise in crime related to the drug trade as well as a shortage of housing for locals.

“The problems have accelerated this year,” said Ribas.

The regional government of the Balearic Islands, of which Ibiza is part, said it is working to strike a balance between tourism and sustainability.

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Tourism represents around 90 percent of Ibiza’s GDP. (Photo by LLUIS GENE / AFP)

“Ibiza’s tourism model is evolving,” said Costa of the island’s tourism board, citing efforts to close illegal rentals on homesharing sites like Airbnb and shut illegal raves.

“Obviously leisure is an essential product for us, we are a world-renowned brand thanks to electronic music,” Costa added.

“But it is not the case anymore that the tourism season started when the nightclubs opened and ended then they closed.”

Ibiza’s association with partying remains strong, however, especially as global tourism bounces back.

Sara Borrego, 32, came to Ibiza from Cadiz in southern Spain with a group of friends to celebrate her upcoming wedding, which was postponed due to the pandemic.

Dressed in white and wearing a crown that said “bride”, she did not stop dancing amid the crowd at Ushuaia.

“There are no more restrictions, we don’t have to wear a mask, we feel free,” she said with a huge smile.

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PROPERTY

Spain considers banning tourist lets in residential buildings

The Spanish government has announced it's studying the possibility of prohibiting tourist apartments in residential buildings where property owners live.

Spain considers banning tourist lets in residential buildings

The Minister of Housing and Urban Agenda, Isabel Rodríguez, announced this Tuesday that the Government is studying a reform of the Horizontal Property Law in order to allow property owners to prohibit tourist apartments in their residential buildings.

In Spain, each building has what’s known as a community of neighbours, referred to La Comunidad or Comunidad de Vecinos in Spanish, and essentially the Spanish government is considering giving them veto power over tourist apartments in their buildings.

READ ALSO: ‘La comunidad’: What property owners in Spain need to know about homeowners’ associations

The announcement was stated in an interview on Telecinco, in which Rodríguez stated that this move comes as a consequence of recent supreme court rulings on tourist apartments in Oviedo in Asturias and San Sebastián in the Basque Country.

In the rulings, the magistrates concluded that the rental of housing for tourist use is an economic activity, and agreed that communities of owners in two separate buildings could ban tourist rentals in several apartments.  

“It will be the neighbourhood communities that will also be able to participate in these types of decisions, because this phenomenon, which is not exclusive to our country, affects the entire world and the main capitals in Europe,” explained the minister.

READ ALSO – UPDATE: Which cities in Spain have new restrictions on tourist rentals?

Recently, Rodríguez has criticised that the proliferation of tourist apartments causes problems for locals, that it stops them from being able to access decent housing and raises the price of rentals.

She praised the regions which have taken steps to try and put a stop to this and gave the recent example of Barcelona City Council, which announced last Friday that it would eliminate all tourist apartments by the end of 2028.

She believes this move in Barcelona “will benefit citizens who want to live in their city, who do not want it to be a theme park and who prioritise the right to access housing over economic interests”.

Spain’s Horizontal Property Law , which was modified once in 2019, already states that it “requires a favourable vote of three-fifths of the total number of owners who, in turn, represent three-fifths of the participation quotas”. This means that already owners have a big say in whether tourist licences can be granted to apartments in their buildings.

However, the particular wording of the law has been the subject of much legal controversy and judicial interpretation. The reason is because the wording of the law only mentions the possibility for communities to “limit or condition” tourist use, but they do not have the power to “prohibit” since the law does not expressly say so.

Several regions have their own rulings through regional courts, but this new announcement aims to make it universal across the board in Spain and ensure that there’s no room for misinterpretation.

Rodríguez is set to meet this afternoon with the governing board of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) and the Housing and Tourism Commissions to address this matter and come to a decision. 

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