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The first rule for any party-minded vacationer is to stay hydrated. Unfortunately, Ibiza can’t help you with that — at least not for very much longer.
The third largest of Spain’s Balearic Islands is in the midst of what some might call an identity crisis. Though it has long been considered one of the world’s wildest vacation destinations, the picturesque island can’t keep up with its own popularity — so much so that its tourism minister, Vincent Torres, says Ibiza is running out of essential resources, including drinking water.
In an interview with Pulse Radio, Torres said that access to roads, medical care and “potable water” are all in a limited state. “More people on the islands means more people consuming our resources, water environment,” Torres said. And while it may seem counterintuitive for a place’s head of tourism to dissuade visitors from coming, that’s exactly the predicament that Torres has found himself in. Especially as the island is expecting an uptick in travel as a result of the recent terrorist attacks in Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt, which are causing security concerns for tourists, leading them to choose different vacation destinations — Ibiza included.
In an effort to prove the seriousness of limiting visitors, on July 1, the Balearic Islands — including Ibiza, Majorca, Formentera and Menorca — instituted a tourism tax that requires travelers to pay an extra €1 or €2 per day (the equivalent of about $1.10 or $2.20 per day), per person, for the duration of their stay. How much you fork over depends on how nice a hotel you’ve booked — guests of four- and five-star hotels will be charged the higher rate of the two — and the funds will go toward helping to protect the islands’ natural resources. Which still doesn’t change the current situation in Ibiza.
“Nowadays we have nearly 100,000 legal touristic beds and a registered population of 13,000 inhabitants, approximately,” Torres said. “The island is just 572 square kilometers; we cannot support much more increase in tourism.”
Consider yourself warned.
H/T: Daily Mail
Source: thepointsguy.com