The president of Paradores, Raquel Sanchez, has confirmed something that has been sounding more and more strongly during the last weeks: that the Parador of Ibiza will not be ready for the next tourist season. Instead, she has said that the hotel is expected to open “in the final stretch” of 2025.
Sanchez has made the announcement among different projections in relation to Paradores for this year. In that sense, he explained that there will be establishments that will close totally or partially. And he has advanced that the next one to open will be in Molina de Aragón next May. The one in Ibiza, number 99 of the network, is projected for the closing of the current year.
Dilations
In this way, Sanchez has lowered expectations about the Parador that has been under construction for 16 years in Dalt Vila, with an investment of 27 million euros to date. It was expected that the Parador of Ibiza would be ready for the first quarter of 2025, but this idea has lost weight as the year progressed. As reported by La Voz de Ibiza, this latest delay is due to a curious bureaucratic hurdle linked to connectivity to the water supply network. The public entity Turespaña, which operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism of the Spanish Government, considers that the work cannot be awarded directly but that a public tender must be carried out. A delay that is difficult to understand since there is only one supplier -Aqualia-, as it is an administrative concession. In view of these inconveniences, the mayor of Vila, Rafael Triguero, and the office of the director of Paradores recently met in Madrid, within the framework of the International Tourism Fair(Fitur).
A long history of delays
The plan to install a Parador in Ibiza in the fortress of Dalt Vila is more than two decades old: the decision was made in 2004 and four years later, in 2008, work began. This 16th century fortress had been closed since the 1980s. The first obstacle was when, at the end of 2012, the discovery of archaeological remains forced construction to be halted. It was also necessary to make significant increases in the budget. Work resumed in December 2019.
“One of the most positive consequences of the construction of the Parador in this place will be the in-depth study of the complex, the museumization of many of the findings and the documentation and preservation of others. This responds to the firm commitment of the Secretary of State for Tourism to study, value, disseminate and make visible the archaeological findings for their knowledge by Ibizans, researchers and visitors to the island,” said the Government.
In April last year, the central government, through the Ministry of Industry and Tourism, reported that “the Parador de Ibiza faces the last phase of the works for its next opening“. At that time, the Secretary of State for Tourism, Rosana Morillo, visited the works of the Parador de Ibiza, which will be the first establishment of the network of Paradores de Turismo in the Balearic Islands. This forecast established that, once the works were finished, the project would be transferred to Paradores de Turismo, the organization responsible for fitting out, managing and commercializing the hotels of the Paradores network. However, according to La Voz de Ibiza, this administrative step has not yet materialized.
The characteristics of Parador Ibiza
It will have 66 rooms and “will generate quality employment, in addition to contributing to the economic revitalization of the area, as it will be a hotel that will be open all year round,” the central government explained. “This Parador will be one of the most emblematic of the network of Paradores de Turismo, with incomparable architectural and technical characteristics”, highlighted the Secretary of State for Tourism, emphasizing the investment made by the Spanish Government to “preserve the historical heritage of the jewel that is Ibiza”.
