editor’s letter 1607

7.5 Million tourists. Seven Point 5 Million Tourists. 7.500.000 TOURISTS.

This is about 1 million more than last year, and this is about the whole amount of tourists we had during the millennium. And I remember those days well when, at the beginning of summer, everybody was eagerly waiting for the season to start so the island would fill up with life and money could be made that enabled surviving the winter.

Those days are over. Not forever but right now I know only a few people who are really happy that the season has started, and it is mainly because of the diversity in nightlife. Or there is the really ignorant ones thinking we are so great, almost divine, as so many people come to visit this island because of its charm, its beauty, its perfect beaches and the unique nightlife. For all those ignorants I’ve got some bad news – the main reason why so many people come to visit the Balearic Islands is because on the other side of the Mediterranean there is war all over the place.

All intentions of trying to accommodate these people by creating infrastructures to avoid the collapse will fail as this island, with its 542 km2, is not made for so many tourists; we cannot grow endlessly. Have you ever walked the streets of San Antonio or the center of Playa d’en Bossa in winter? The feeling of being lost in a phantom city is truly oppressive, so who would want this to happen to the rest of the island?

And then there is the human urge to not only grow in quantity but in “quality”, or what some understand to be quality. This does not mean to rearrange supermarket food in a ‘creative’ way and charge three times more, or pocket 23 Euros for a long-drink just because you think you can.

Quality means you understand the whole concept of creating something worthy, from the very beginning to the very end, and make people aware of this so that they know they are not being ripped off and are happy to pay a bit more – yes, only a bit more – knowing that the product they buy is of good quality.

My hope is that the war on the other side is over soon and Ibiza will go back to “normal”, and that not too much of the island is ruined by the emergency construction work done to avoid a collapse during these peak times, because I see a lot of island people who are very aware of this situation and therefore collaborate with each other, as we have all learned our lesson:

Quality Never Prostitutes.