Ibiza Dumps Ecstasy for Facials as Spain's Party Island Detoxes
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Ibiza Dumps Ecstasy for Facials as Spain's Party Island Detoxes
By Gareth Gore
April 2 (Bloomberg) -- On a hilltop in Ibiza, interior designers wearing hardhats are fussing over the position of pillows as they prepare a brochure for Aguas de Ibiza, the Spanish island's newest resort. Just out of camera range, workers are still building the hotel's roof.
Ibiza's transformation is also a work in progress. Aguas de Ibiza, a luxury spa facility, is part of the Mediterranean island's effort to discard its reputation as a magnet for drug- taking nightclubbers and attract wealthy vacationers to stave off competition from cheaper destinations in Turkey and Greece.
``From the outside we're seen as a pure party island and that needs to change,'' said Albert Torres Gutierrez, 26, whose family is backing the 30 million-euro ($47.3 million), 112-room hotel overlooking Santa Eularia harbor. ``Tourism used to be a badge of pride. That pride is gone.''
Ibiza, Spain's clubbing capital, is in detox as officials try to curb after-hours parties and block permits for hotels below five-star standard to lure a more prosperous -- and quieter -- class of customer.
``We sold the world a fractured image of ourselves and now we want that to change,'' said Josefa Mari Ribas, Ibiza's head of tourism and economic cooperation. ``There's a long tradition of low-quality tourism on the island and we need to be able to compete with some of these new resorts.''
Drug Crackdown
A police crackdown on drugs last year led to the temporary closure of the clubs Amnesia, Bora Bora and DC-10, a former aircraft hangar famous for its after-hours revelry. As preparations for this season get under way, Mari has asked local lawmakers to consider banning all-night, after-hours dance parties, where music fans often take ecstacy pills to stay awake.
Visitors to Ibiza, the smallest of the three main Balearic islands some 120 miles off Barcelona, have ballooned since the island's first tourism boom in the 1960s. Some 4.8 million people passed through Ibiza's airport last year, mainly headed for budget apartments and beachfront margarita bars in towns such as Sant Antoni on the island's west coast.
Those visitors block roads and jam facilities used by the island's 114,000 permanent residents, many of whom have called for a crackdown on loud partygoers.
The campaign to lure the rich has already had some success. At Ibiza's shoreline airport there are more private jets than commercial planes, and the island was visited last year by Hollywood actress Penelope Cruz, hotel heiress Paris Hilton and retired soccer player Zinedine Zidane.
Cheaper Shores
After a worldwide tourism slump in 2000, visitor growth began to slow, even after disc jockeys including Paul Oakenfold and Pete Tong cemented the island's reputation for dance music at clubs such as Pacha in Ibiza Town.
Now, Europe's holidaymakers are heading for cheaper shores. While Ibiza's tourism figures have been almost flat since 2000, trips to nearby Morocco rose 14 percent last year, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization. Visits to Turkey, home of rival party town Bodrum, rose 18 percent.
``We just can't compete with these places on price,'' Mari said from her office in Ibiza Town, where beer can cost more than 6 euros a glass, 24 percent more than five years ago. ``Some of our facilities are 20 or 30 years old now and are past their best. We need to improve.''
Tourism is the single-biggest economic driver in the Balearics, with hotels, clubs, and restaurants bringing in 17.4 billion euros, or 72 percent of gross domestic product on Ibiza and the neighboring islands of Mallorca, Menorca and Formentera. The UN has designated Ibiza a World Heritage Site for its combination of biodiversity and culture.
`Not the Same'
Since 2004, Ibiza's economy has expanded an average of 1.4 percent annually, less than half the rate on the Spanish mainland, where a housing boom has helped the country beat the euro zone's average growth rate every year for the past decade.
``Things have changed a lot,'' said Vicente Mari Serra, 40, a bartender who's been serving glasses of Ibicencan herbal liquor since 1997 at the Can Anneta bar in the northern village of Sant Carles. ``Everything was so new and exciting 20 years ago, but it's just not the same any more.''
Island bosses are hoping developments like the Torres family's resort will reinvigorate Ibiza's tourism industry. It will be the third luxury hotel on an island that until last year had only one. In July, the Mirador de Dalt Vila opened in Ibiza old town displaying local art in the rooms of a 19th-century villa.
The regional Balearic government is also contributing money to build a 45 million-euro convention center to attract business visitors and is negotiating with British Airways Plc, Europe's third-biggest airline, to introduce winter flights from Britain.
Those moves are necessary, said Alex Reyners, director of Atzaro, a 21-room spa that competes with the new Aguas de Ibiza.
``When it comes to a matter of reputation, the better our businesses and the better the product offered, the better the guest that comes will be,'' he said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Gareth Gore in Ibiza, Spain [email protected]
Last Updated: April 2, 2008 08:35 EDT
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