spunkymonkey
Active Member
Hi guys, I havent been around for a long time but thought you might all find this interesting. This article is on the front page of Bloomberg World News today, one of the world's largest Newswires.
Hope you are all well. 8)
Ibiza Dumps Ecstasy for Facials as Spain's Party Island Detoxes
2008-04-01 18:04 (New York)
By Gareth Gore
April 2 (Bloomberg) -- On a hilltop in Ibiza, interior
designers wearing hardhats are fussing over the position of
pillows as they prepare a brochure for Aguas de Ibiza, the
Spanish island's newest resort. Just out of camera range, workers
are still building the hotel's roof.
Ibiza's transformation is also a work in progress. Aguas de
Ibiza, a luxury spa facility, is part of the Mediterranean
island's effort to discard its reputation as a magnet for drug-
taking nightclubbers and attract wealthy vacationers to stave off
competition from cheaper destinations in Turkey and Greece.
``From the outside we're seen as a pure party island and
that needs to change,'' said Albert Torres Gutierrez, 26, whose
family is backing the 30 million-euro ($47.3 million), 112-room
hotel overlooking Santa Eularia harbor. ``Tourism used to be a
badge of pride. That pride is gone.''
Ibiza, Spain's clubbing capital, is in detox as officials
try to curb after-hours parties and block permits for hotels
below five-star standard to lure a more prosperous -- and quieter
--class of customer.
``We sold the world a fractured image of ourselves and now
we want that to change,'' said Josefa Mari Ribas, Ibiza's head of
tourism and economic cooperation. ``There's a long tradition of
low-quality tourism on the island and we need to be able to
compete with some of these new resorts.''
Drug Crackdown
A police crackdown on drugs last year led to the temporary
closure of the clubs Amnesia, Bora Bora and DC-10, a former
aircraft hangar famous for its after-hours revelry. As
preparations for this season get under way, Mari has asked local
lawmakers to consider banning all-night, after-hours dance
parties, where music fans often take ecstacy pills to stay awake.
Visitors to Ibiza, the smallest of the three main Balearic
islands some 120 miles off Barcelona, have ballooned since the
island's first tourism boom in the 1960s. Some 4.8 million people
passed through Ibiza's airport last year, mainly headed for
budget apartments and beachfront margarita bars in towns such as
Sant Antoni on the island's west coast.
Those visitors block roads and jam facilities used by the
island's 114,000 permanent residents, many of whom have called
for a crackdown on loud partygoers.
The campaign to lure the rich has already had some success.
At Ibiza's shoreline airport there are more private jets than
commercial planes, and the island was visited last year by
Hollywood actress Penelope Cruz, hotel heiress Paris Hilton and
retired soccer player Zinedine Zidane.
Cheaper Shores
After a worldwide tourism slump in 2000, visitor growth
began to slow, even after disc jockeys including Paul Oakenfold
and Pete Tong cemented the island's reputation for dance music at
clubs such as Pacha in Ibiza Town.
Now, Europe's holidaymakers are heading for cheaper shores.
While Ibiza's tourism figures have been almost flat since 2000,
trips to nearby Morocco rose 14 percent last year, according to
the United Nations World Tourism Organization. Visits to Turkey,
home of rival party town Bodrum, rose 18 percent.
``We just can't compete with these places on price,'' Mari
said from her office in Ibiza Town, where beer can cost more than
6 euros a glass, 24 percent more than five years ago. ``Some of
our facilities are 20 or 30 years old now and are past their
best. We need to improve.''
Tourism is the single-biggest economic driver in the
Balearics, with hotels, clubs, and restaurants bringing in 17.4
billion euros, or 72 percent of gross domestic product on Ibiza
and the neighboring islands of Mallorca, Menorca and Formentera.
The UN has designated Ibiza a World Heritage Site for its
combination of biodiversity and culture.
`Not the Same'
Since 2004, Ibiza's economy has expanded an average of 1.4
percent annually, less than half the rate on the Spanish
mainland, where a housing boom has helped the country beat the
euro zone's average growth rate every year for the past decade.
``Things have changed a lot,'' said Vicente Mari Serra, 40,
a bartender who's been serving glasses of Ibicencan herbal liquor
since 1997 at the Can Anneta bar in the northern village of Sant
Carles. ``Everything was so new and exciting 20 years ago, but
it's just not the same any more.''
Island bosses are hoping developments like the Torres
family's resort will reinvigorate Ibiza's tourism industry. It
will be the third luxury hotel on an island that until last year
had only one. In July, the Mirador de Dalt Vila opened in Ibiza
old town displaying local art in the rooms of a 19th-century
villa.
The regional Balearic government is also contributing money
to build a 45 million-euro convention center to attract business
visitors and is negotiating with British Airways Plc, Europe's
third-biggest airline, to introduce winter flights from Britain.
Those moves are necessary, said Alex Reyners, director of
Atzaro, a 21-room spa that competes with the new Aguas de Ibiza.
``When it comes to a matter of reputation, the better our
businesses and the better the product offered, the better the
guest that comes will be,'' he said.
--With reporting by Catherine Robinson in London. Editor: David
Ellis, Anne Pollak
Hope you are all well. 8)
Ibiza Dumps Ecstasy for Facials as Spain's Party Island Detoxes
2008-04-01 18:04 (New York)
By Gareth Gore
April 2 (Bloomberg) -- On a hilltop in Ibiza, interior
designers wearing hardhats are fussing over the position of
pillows as they prepare a brochure for Aguas de Ibiza, the
Spanish island's newest resort. Just out of camera range, workers
are still building the hotel's roof.
Ibiza's transformation is also a work in progress. Aguas de
Ibiza, a luxury spa facility, is part of the Mediterranean
island's effort to discard its reputation as a magnet for drug-
taking nightclubbers and attract wealthy vacationers to stave off
competition from cheaper destinations in Turkey and Greece.
``From the outside we're seen as a pure party island and
that needs to change,'' said Albert Torres Gutierrez, 26, whose
family is backing the 30 million-euro ($47.3 million), 112-room
hotel overlooking Santa Eularia harbor. ``Tourism used to be a
badge of pride. That pride is gone.''
Ibiza, Spain's clubbing capital, is in detox as officials
try to curb after-hours parties and block permits for hotels
below five-star standard to lure a more prosperous -- and quieter
--class of customer.
``We sold the world a fractured image of ourselves and now
we want that to change,'' said Josefa Mari Ribas, Ibiza's head of
tourism and economic cooperation. ``There's a long tradition of
low-quality tourism on the island and we need to be able to
compete with some of these new resorts.''
Drug Crackdown
A police crackdown on drugs last year led to the temporary
closure of the clubs Amnesia, Bora Bora and DC-10, a former
aircraft hangar famous for its after-hours revelry. As
preparations for this season get under way, Mari has asked local
lawmakers to consider banning all-night, after-hours dance
parties, where music fans often take ecstacy pills to stay awake.
Visitors to Ibiza, the smallest of the three main Balearic
islands some 120 miles off Barcelona, have ballooned since the
island's first tourism boom in the 1960s. Some 4.8 million people
passed through Ibiza's airport last year, mainly headed for
budget apartments and beachfront margarita bars in towns such as
Sant Antoni on the island's west coast.
Those visitors block roads and jam facilities used by the
island's 114,000 permanent residents, many of whom have called
for a crackdown on loud partygoers.
The campaign to lure the rich has already had some success.
At Ibiza's shoreline airport there are more private jets than
commercial planes, and the island was visited last year by
Hollywood actress Penelope Cruz, hotel heiress Paris Hilton and
retired soccer player Zinedine Zidane.
Cheaper Shores
After a worldwide tourism slump in 2000, visitor growth
began to slow, even after disc jockeys including Paul Oakenfold
and Pete Tong cemented the island's reputation for dance music at
clubs such as Pacha in Ibiza Town.
Now, Europe's holidaymakers are heading for cheaper shores.
While Ibiza's tourism figures have been almost flat since 2000,
trips to nearby Morocco rose 14 percent last year, according to
the United Nations World Tourism Organization. Visits to Turkey,
home of rival party town Bodrum, rose 18 percent.
``We just can't compete with these places on price,'' Mari
said from her office in Ibiza Town, where beer can cost more than
6 euros a glass, 24 percent more than five years ago. ``Some of
our facilities are 20 or 30 years old now and are past their
best. We need to improve.''
Tourism is the single-biggest economic driver in the
Balearics, with hotels, clubs, and restaurants bringing in 17.4
billion euros, or 72 percent of gross domestic product on Ibiza
and the neighboring islands of Mallorca, Menorca and Formentera.
The UN has designated Ibiza a World Heritage Site for its
combination of biodiversity and culture.
`Not the Same'
Since 2004, Ibiza's economy has expanded an average of 1.4
percent annually, less than half the rate on the Spanish
mainland, where a housing boom has helped the country beat the
euro zone's average growth rate every year for the past decade.
``Things have changed a lot,'' said Vicente Mari Serra, 40,
a bartender who's been serving glasses of Ibicencan herbal liquor
since 1997 at the Can Anneta bar in the northern village of Sant
Carles. ``Everything was so new and exciting 20 years ago, but
it's just not the same any more.''
Island bosses are hoping developments like the Torres
family's resort will reinvigorate Ibiza's tourism industry. It
will be the third luxury hotel on an island that until last year
had only one. In July, the Mirador de Dalt Vila opened in Ibiza
old town displaying local art in the rooms of a 19th-century
villa.
The regional Balearic government is also contributing money
to build a 45 million-euro convention center to attract business
visitors and is negotiating with British Airways Plc, Europe's
third-biggest airline, to introduce winter flights from Britain.
Those moves are necessary, said Alex Reyners, director of
Atzaro, a 21-room spa that competes with the new Aguas de Ibiza.
``When it comes to a matter of reputation, the better our
businesses and the better the product offered, the better the
guest that comes will be,'' he said.
--With reporting by Catherine Robinson in London. Editor: David
Ellis, Anne Pollak
lol:
?