Final Vinyl. Carl Cox I goes back to the bag one more time … P11
Speakers Better Than Sex? Read our Judgement … P12/13
Day Of The Tourist Ibiza’s Day Of The Tourist, Thursday 15th September Tourism Stats are Up, Up, Up; but Can Ibiza Sustain Them?
We all have reason to be thankful to Ibiza’s tourists upon whom every aspect of our economy is reliant. As with any love affair however, the relationship is not always straightforward. Ibiza’s relationship with its visitors has gone beyond the early heady days of unabated joy and romance, and moved into a
reality of balancing too many kids, not enough income, and the need for regular date nights to remind us we are in love at all. Ibiza’s online relationship status would be ‘it’s complicated’. For many years everybody has pulled together in promoting Ibiza as a destination. The success of Ibiza as a world brand is undeniable, but some people feel it is becoming a victim of its own success. With finite resources in space and infrastructure - 571 square kilometres (220 square miles) to be precise, some feel that the island is reaching unsustainable numbers during the sum-
mer season. On page 4 of this issue, we have reported on the key statistics of airport passengers, hotel occupancy and tourist numbers. As a clear example of the huge growth in recent years, August’s airport passenger numbers have increased from circa 800,000 in 2004 to just under 1,400,000 this year. An increase of 67%. Debate will continue as to whether Ibiza’s maximum number of tourists will be determined purely by market forces, or some form of state regulation and control, however, today (Continued on page 3)