Ibiza, the fall and rebirth of the paradise of partying and comfort. After the COVID 19 pandemic that devastated Spain in 2020, the white paradise has also been greatly affected by the wave of restrictions, capacity limitations and closure of businesses related to the nightlife sector.
In this article we review the whole situation experienced on the island, since its begginings as a center for musical celebrations and concerts. We will analyze the post-pandemic situation and talk about the recovery of nightlife two years after the devastating pandemic.
A glance at the map of Ibiza we can see that it has a large expanse of high quality and strikingly photogenic beaches, an ideal cocktail for attracting both national and international tourists, especially in the summer season.
In addition, Ibiza has a wide range of tourist flats, as well as an airport and port, which makes it easy to get there. It also offers the possibility of touring the island comfortably on your own by renting a car or hiring boat trips.
But, without a doubt, if Ibiza is known globally for anything, it is for its nightlife, especially for being the capital of house music, electronic music and partying on a universal level. In fact, we found two Ibizan clubs in the Top 5 of a ranking carried out in 2018 by DJ Mag magazine.
But... What has become of Ibiza after almost two years of silence in its great venues?
The fact that we consider this island to be an international music and leisure reference is no coincidence. If we go back to the 1980s, Ibiza experienced its first waves of tourists and the opening of popular nightclubs such as Pacha, Amnesia and Club Ku. It also had beaches that were not very crowded until then. At this time, a great tradition of live music was established in the area, with artists such as Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix.
However, at the end of this decade, tourism in Ibiza suffered a major crisis. Faced with this, and with a fairly recent autonomy over tourism competences, the Balearic Islands restricted the creation of new holiday accommodation given the decreasing demand.
It was at this time that the island drastically improved the quality of its services, moving from two- and three-star hotels, popular with bohemians and rockers, to more luxurious hotels, sought after by tourists with greater purchasing power. This attracted the tourist profile that generates so much money for the island today.
On the other hand, in the 2000s, after the triumph of electronic music in America, this genre was introduced in Ibiza, which gradually lost its predisposition for rock. This succession became even more accentuated when the island's law forced them to install noise limiters on their sound equipment.
This made it more difficult to play rock music live, while styles such as electronic were favored. Since then, the most in-demand DJs in the world have played on Ibiza's clubs and stages.
Since Covid-19 expanded across Spain in 2020, there have been many changes and, clearly, Ibiza's nightlife has been strongly affected by them. For example, the capacity was restricted and the opening of venues larger than 300m² was banned. This led to a proliferation of illegal parties, which resulted in numerous petitions from entrepreneurs to the authorities for legal changes to put an end to the "lack of control" that they entailed.
Already in the summer of 2021, the island maintained its tourist status, being one of the places with the least drop in visitors compared to 2019, despite having its large nightclubs closed.
Even so, the economic losses that these years have meant for Ibiza's leisure industry are not few, which is why the government proposed state aid of up to 855 million euros. However, it took more than 16 months for this aid to reach the island's entrepreneurs after it was approved.
However, having invoiced only 11% compared to the same month in 2019, this aid is considered insufficient, as it only covered 12.5% of the losses accumulated by these companies.
According to The World's 100 Best Clubs ranking carried out by the International Nightlife Association in 2019, Spain is the country with the most nightclubs recognised for excellence in nightlife. A total of 22 clubs are recognised in this ranking, 9 of which are in Ibiza.
This data shows the quality and recognition of the island's parties, with clubs such as Hï Ibiza, Ushuaïa Ibiza Beach Hotel, Pacha Ibiza and Ibiza Rocks standing out. These types of clubs and nightclubs generate a large amount of money. Specifically, in 2015, the Pacha group had a turnover of 35.15 million euros in Ibiza, accounting for almost half of the total income of this group of nightclubs.
However, with the arrival of the current pandemic, news about the desperate situation of the owners and workers of these venues became commonplace, as it is estimated that up to 35% of the local population lives thanks to the income generated by nightlife recreation in the area, especially from the nightclubs. In other words, leisure accounts for 35% of the area's GDP and generates up to 770 million euros, according to the University of the Balearic Islands.
For a year and a half, this noisy, party-going island was completely silent due to the difficulty of reconciling the virus contingency measures with the debauchery and the crowds gathered in these places.
In addition, the increase in illegal parties increased the incidence of local Covid, resulting in a continuous extension of the Ibizan nightlife suspension period, severely affecting the local economy.
Finally, by the summer of 2021, the Govern was able to get approval for its reopening, although under exceptional measures, such as a capacity reduced to 60-75% or the need to show the Covid passport, demonstrate a recovery or have a recent negative test. Thus, the owners of these venues claimed, they would not make a profit but would stop accumulating losses.
During this pandemic period of uncertainty, especially in the second half of 2020, up to 50% of nightlife venues were at high risk of bankruptcy.
Even so, renowned nightlife venues have managed to survive the economic hardship caused by the virus. The losses caused by Covid-19 are still immense, but nightlife tourism is coming back to Ibiza in a big way. What's more, most clubs are planning to open two weeks earlier than usual.
For example, Pacha Ibiza is bringing back its Flower Power party and will also feature Maluma every Tuesday in July this summer. Amnesia, another of the big clubs, has already announced the programming of an Opening Party in style for 2022, as has Ushuaïa, Lío, Es Paradis, Hï, Ibiza Rocks and DC10, among many others.
In fact, Ibiza's tourism is expected to return to normal this summer, although with a focus on a higher quality tourist than it has been for some years now. What's more, the island intends to make progressive changes to make tourism less invasive of the place and its inhabitants and move towards sustainability.
With the summer season having just begun, and this being the busiest of the year, the island's unemployment rate has already dropped sharply, with the service sector generating the most new jobs. This is quite remarkable, as in 2020 it was the sector in which most jobs were lost.
In February 2022, this Pitiusa island registered the lowest unemployment rate in the last 14 years, placing it as the leader in the reduction of year-on-year unemployment, together with the Canary Islands, at a national level.
In short, after a very difficult period for the island, the current forecasts for Ibiza's economy are more than favorable, with the development of discotheques and pubs having practically returned to normal. Even so, many venues are trying to take measures to achieve a gradually more sustainable tourism while continuing to recover from a very complicated period on a global level.