Ibiza, the island of festivals that declared war on tourism

MADRID.- Impossible not to see him. "If you like tourism, go get it at home," says the painter in phosphorescent green letters. A remarkable contrast in the stone shining under the intense heavenly sky
Ibiza

A little later, another legend insists on the idea, although in a much more categorical way:
"Tourist, go home!", says a graffiti that sends tourists back to their country. And there are not many doubts left.

This is happening in the center of Ibiza, the flagship of Spanish tourism. The paradise island with which Europeans dream of dreaming of the golden sun, the transparent green of their creeks and the white heat of their beach during a big part of the year.

"It's like Mecca, Ibiza has to come at least once in its life," say island lovers, legion.

So, how do you express graffiti against tourism? How to explain the social movements that shout to the "invaders", while we talk about tourism that arrives in June and leaves in September, with the summer boreal?

To this tourism, more and more mbadive, and to those who exploit it, one attributes the main evils and diseases which suffers the island, which delighted the inhabitants of the whole world.

Especially, because of the degradation of the environment, living conditions and the incessant rise in prices. Especially housing, now almost a luxury item. Something that everyone can not have.

"The case in Ibiza is a question of greatness, everything becomes out of control and it complicates the lives of the inhabitants," he says.
THE NATION Angels Bofil, one of the founders of
Prou ("too much", in the Balearic language), an active citizen platform in favor of "sustainable tourism" and a more harmonious life between inhabitants and visitors.

It is a matter of increasingly acute contrast. From one side, beauty, sun, sea, landscape, luxury, restaurants, cruises, yachts. On the other hand, the misery and malvivity of many who work to make all this possible.

"It's only in Ibiza that it's no longer possible to live in dignity," says Bofil. It's almost a paradox. Many of the 130,000 permanent inhabitants of the island feel that their daily life is far from the possibilities of the rest of the Spaniards.

They have to work more and pay more for less. Police, doctors, professors, civil servants, trade employees. A feeling that wins over the years. Everything, it is said, by the push of an unstoppable tourism.

Cradle of turismofobia

"It's pure turismophobia," say those who question the growing preaching of platforms that have been planted against the distortions attributed to bad tourism policy.

The term, of recent stamp, defines precisely the social phenomenon which is mobilized against the unfavorable result of a bad planning in the tourist destinations.

A movement that aims to emphasize that this poorly planned activity generates more problems in the long run than solutions.

Cities like Barcelona, ​​Spain and
Venice, Italy, has already had epidemics of this type. Ibiza, in the Balearic archipelago, like Mallorca, they parade at the head of this current on Spanish territory.

But they are not the only ones. And the tourist stays in the middle, like the ham sandwich, while he stumbles suddenly with sudden protests against his presence.

Hippies with jet set

First of all it was the hippies. Today, Ibiza is known as the island with the "highest concentration of celebrities" per square meter. Footballers, models, entrepreneurs, personalities
jet set they huddle in their exclusive creeks.

International visitors, such as the clan of the Monegasque royal family, with casiraghi in mind and a list that continues with

Naomi Campbell,

Paris Hilton,

Paul McCartney,

Will Smith,

Kim Kardashian, Leonardo Di Caprio, Mariah Carey, Justin Bieber, Kylie Minogue and a long ectetera pbaded through Ibiza.

Sometimes

George Clooney

and his wife as well as Sting and

Leo Messi

who, through his brand MiM,
He has just invested in the purchase of Ibiza's Es Vivé hotel, now MiM Ibiza Hotel. Or "Messi hotel".

This is not only the highest concentration of celebrities per square meter, but also the most expensive square meter of Spain, with an increase driven by "tourist rentals", which poses a housing problem for residents local.

"It's very simple, I had the habit of paying a normal monthly rent, but the owner prefers to rent it a day for tourists and there is no way to compete with that," he said. declared one of the many disaster victims. "Tourism drives us out of the island," they say.

Housing emergency

The island is experiencing a housing emergency due to tourist leasing. There is a shortage of doctors, police, justice and traffic officials, and electricians because they can not pay rent. Because what they earn does not give them a home.

It is estimated that the island has 82,000 hotel beds. A figure exceeded by tourist rental on Internet portals.

Thus, residents can pay 500 euros per month for a mattress on a balcony, in a shared room or in a mobile home.

"The first thing to do is to go where to live," says the official website of the local government when giving advice to those who wish to work there. Little by little, the same goes for tourism.

Visitors squeezed twelve into a one – room apartment. "The owners do not care because with that they come out in one season, they can do it again every year," says the Association for Sustainable Tourism.

Island of excesses

The Mediterranean island is another latent conflict: exploitation, annoying noises,
the limitless night and its consequences. "We do not propose to close the discotheques, but to finish with those who are in the open air, because their music is heard for miles and it is not fair," they said.

The legend of the island of permanent holidays has a difficult coexistence with the idea of ​​a family tourism.

"For two summers, it has been said that foreigners are falling from a balcony completely set up, with alcohol or drugs," denounce the family badociations. "Balcony" is called the sinister phenomenon and is one of the last thermometers of excess.

Excess in everything: in operation and lack of control. Turismophobia is the other side. The desire to stop and preserve what remains of paradise.