The president of the Consell de Ibiza, Vicent Marí, defended at the Spain 360 Forum that Ibiza has reached a turning point after decades of transformation from an agricultural society to become a global tourist destination. In his speech he explained that tourism, a source of prosperity for years, is becoming a problem when it directly impacts residents and the territory, a situation that demands immediate responses.
Marí said that the future sustainability of the island depends on maintaining in balance “a triangle formed by citizens, tourists and territory”, and warned that this balance is being broken. He pointed out that the transition from sun and beach tourism to a higher quality model was the first structural change, but that current tensions make it necessary to intervene to avoid irreversible pressure.
Fight against intrusion
The president stressed that the origin of the current social tension is citizen dissatisfaction, caused in large part by the mass marketing of tourist apartments. Marí recalled that, to address this, in 2019 the
The president stressed that this offensive has been possible thanks to the collaboration with vacation rental platforms. Airbnb and Booking withdrew 3,000 illegal offers and about 15,000 beds, a volume that, according to Marí, has allowed to clean the market and improve coexistence. He defended that “it has to be a regulated and regulated market”, and that the purification of places has not only reduced pressure, but has also increased tourism revenues.
Another of the measures presented was the regulation of traffic. Marí recalled that between June and September thousands of vehicles arrive in Ibiza from the mainland, which saturated the road network. The law passed in 2024 set for the first time a maximum quota of 20,168 vehicles in summer, preventing the entry of about 32,000 additional cars. This control, he said in statements collected by Diario de Ibiza, marks “a crucial step” towards a more sustainable mobility model, which protects the daily lives of residents.
On housing, Marí warned that workers’ settlements in caravans or camps “cannot be normalized”, and defended that the labor market must be accompanied by adequate housing conditions. He called for dialogue between administrations and the private sector to guarantee decent housing, recalling that “whoever is in a position to offer a job must ensure that the worker lives in adequate conditions”.
Marí also emphasized that “tourism is managed, not questioned”. The president insisted that Ibiza must not renounce to remain a leading destination, but it must assume that its size and territorial fragility make it essential to plan, organize and anticipate in order not to compromise its future.
