IBIZA AS A TOP DESTINATION

IBIZA AS A TOP DESTINATION

When one is looking for a holiday destination in the Spanish coasts, the island Ibiza inevitably pops up in the mind due to its already established popularity as the hub of nightlife and beautiful sprawling beaches. The Island Ibiza is located in the Eastern Coast of Spain along the Mediterranean Sea. In the recent years, the Balearic Islands have attracted a staggering number of tourists and the numbers are still growing.  Apart from its nightlife, the island boasts of other plenty exciting things to do and places to visit during a visit there. Although Ibiza is relatively small, there are plenty of amazing sights, attractions, and an altogether packed to-do list for any visitor. The Spanish island boasts of unique selling points, a wide target market, a variation and availability of accommodation facilities, attractions and with its positioning in the current lifecycle, it inevitably attracts benefits and costs through hospitality and tourism.

The unique selling points for Ibiza are its beautiful scenery that merges beautifully with the sunny and sandy beaches combined with never ending parties that take over the island until dawn. For many decades, tales have been spawned of the legendary Ibiza nightlife that comes with raucous parties that can only be rivaled by Las Vegas nights. According to usual tourism patterns, the partying season begins with the International Music Summit in May and goes on to the summer months with the closing of fiestas of September. Clubs dot the major parts of the town and are mostly graced by world-famous DJs that ensure that the party does not stop till dawn.  It is therefore quite familiar of the locals and tourists alike to be rocked to the wide dance floors in the club by electronic music. From listening to music, Ibiza has breathtaking sunsets and sunrises that are best viewed from the San Antonio Bay, Sunset Strip or Benirras Beach. An additional selling point for Ibiza apart from sun and sangria is the richness of the culture and history of the people. In spite of there being less than a million inhabitants in the island, it has not lost its spark when it comes to a display of Phoenician diversity from the locals that awetourists. Additionally, the food culture boasts of authentic Spanish cuisine that has a touch of the Mediterranean heritage. Most palates are served with fish. There is a range of restaurants from fast food joints to international restaurants.

Moreover, the growth of Ibiza as a tourist destination is through comprehensive marketing strategies thus there is a large tapped and untapped target market. Target market segmentation includes the lower middle class tourists, middle class, and the upper middle class. That is, there is a targeting of both the people that are out to party to those that want a serene place as a vacation destination. The target market for island Ibiza also includes the upper classes that purchase the exclusive tourism packages. Krendzelak(2008) writes, “Consequently VIP Services on the Island became increasingly popular in recent years because they are able to arrange everything what is necessary to please demanding customers.” In addition, package tours are offered by most resorts thus making it cheap for those that have low income and prefer everything put under one expense sheet. That is, the tour organizer offers meals, accommodation and transportation in one package deal that costs less with groups as opposed to individual costs. Moreover, packages offered in the tourism industry ensure that those that are hesitant to travel alone are catered for through confidence in the tour experts. On the other hand, the larger target market for the island is the middle class tourists that prefer going to other countries instead of just travelling around their country. Also, it is these groups of individual mass tourists that are commonly in touch with foreign languages like Spanish thus enjoy the entire destination experience..

What is more, there is a variation in the availability of accommodation facilities throughout the island. A range of accommodation services cater for almost all tourist preferences and budgets. Pons et al. (2014) point out, “legal tourist accommodation construction was nearly static, with just 35,336 new beds opening between 1992 and 2007, that is, at a rate of a mere 2,358 beds/year, half the 5,006 beds/year registered between 1978 and 1990.” Well, there exist the cheap motels that provide for the bare minimum in form of bed and breakfast for those that are looking towards spending less on accommodation. Nothing screams fancy more than the lavish accommodation at the disposal of all that can afford them. Also, modern innovative conversions of old buildings are giving the conventional hotels a lot of competition given their ability to cater for larger crowds. Variety of accommodation is also available for the different purposes of the clientele to ensure that there is flexibility in attainment of needs. Therefore, categories of accommodation range from serviced options such as guest houses, hotels and cruise ships to non-serviced options such as rented villas, caravans, apartments, motor houses and yachts. . Being an island that boasts of mass tourism, hotel accommodation is available in plenty.

With an availability of accommodation, it is easy to maneuver through the Ibiza and be able to get a feel of the various tourist attractions. Traditional Ibiza cultural sites exist at the Benirras bay contains remains of the first Phoenician settlement. On the off coast of Cala d’Hort, there exists the magnificent Es Vedra that serves a natural park that remains protected and inhabited and it claims an association with some of the local legends and myths. Dalt Villa in the streets of Ibiza is perched above water and filled with most of the iconic restaurants and bars that lure the visitors in with amazing sights. The island of Ibiza does not stop at the old Renaissance walls that surround the old town, there are the mystic and hidden beaches. Downer(2007) describes, “It’s possible to escape the Balearic island’s hotspots for splendid isolation amid secret coves and pristine bays – just be prepared to walk or swim there.” These hidden beaches include those found in Cala Mastella, Cala Xarraca, S’Illot des Renclí and the rocky Punta de Ses Portes.

Besides, with such attraction with its positioning in the current lifecycle, it inevitably draws benefits and costs through hospitality and tourism. The lifecycle of the island include stages off exploration, development and stagnation. Since the days of the Phoenicians, Ibiza has remained to be one of the most recommended vacation destinations. New attractions that have been added to the island town are mainly in form of nightlife entertainment. There are also notable improvements that have been made to safeguard the image of the island as more than just a hub for alcohol and drugs in order to attract high class tourism. Due to little development, there is the stagnation phase that has been reached due to problems associated with the tourism sector such as high accident rates, too much noise and influx of illegal drug intake. There is also seasonality associated with the tourism in the island with climate and holidays playing a major role. Through the hospitality and tourism industry, the island has attracted its fair share of benefits and costs. As Munoz and Montero (2007) note, “These islands have one of the highest tourist rates per capita in the world …In terms of economic importance; tourism contributes around 85% of GDP.” However, the overdependence on tourism and hospitality as the major revenue generator has led to slumps in the economy when there are low seasons. Also, there is an exploitation of the physical and natural resources to the point of threating of the historical heritage sites. Social benefits incurred include an increased diversity in culture through tourism and attraction of foreign investors in the hotel business has provided employment. Unfortunately, there is an increased crime rate, noise and air pollution and uneven demands in infrastructure. That is, more investment is channeled towards tourism at the expense of vital structures such as roads.

Ibiza island boasts of unique selling points, a wide target market, a variation and availability of accommodation facilities, attractions and with its positioning in the current lifecycle, it inevitably attracts benefits and costs through hospitality and tourism. Even though the night scene of the island is the primary selling point, there is an abundance of heritage sights and hidden beaches. On the other hand, luxurious resorts are sprawled all over the island with their various selling points including having rooms with pools incorporated in them. However, the current image has attracted most of those that are drawn towards legendary partying.Creation of a wide target market has been a focus of the Spanish government that seeks to tap into a new branding of Ibiza as a family vacation. Family holidays are inspired by the beaches and the visiting of historical heritage sites.

References

Downer, S. (2017). 10 of the best hidden beaches in Ibiza. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/jun/13/10-best-hidden-beaches-ibiza-spain-bays-coves [Accessed 4 Feb. 2020].

Garín-Muñoz, T. and Montero-Martín, L. (2007). Tourism in the Balearic Islands: A dynamic model for international demand using panel data. Tourism Management, 28(5), pp.1224-1235.

Krendzelak, J. (2008). ‘Tourism in Ibiza Island and its destination life cycle. Nottingam University Business School.

Pons, A., Salamanca, O. and Murray, I. (2020). Tourism capitalism and island urbanization: tourist accommodation diffusion in the Balearics, 1936-2010. Island Studies Journal, 9(2), pp.239-258.