san an change

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I'm very sceptcal about some of the claims coming from supporters of golf courses. They always make out they're being environmentally conscious, but are they really?

They say most of the water will be recycled. Maybe. If a course is built will the owners be told to rip it up if the water isn't recycled?

More importantly, when did you last see a grassy lawn in Ibiza? Keeping the greens in particular and the rest of the course in good condition would require the use of large quantities of chemicals - herbicides, pesticides and fertiliser. Is that really healthy for the local plants Sr Matutes says would grow on the course?

The reason golf courses became so popular with developers in the Costa Del Sol (or 'Costa Del Golf´as the autopista signs say) was not just to attract holidaymakers but to provide additional land for building once they'd finished destroying the coastline. Look at ads for new property down there and you'll find it's either by the sea or round a golf course. Golf isn't an alternative to property development.

Figures are frequently quoted for the amount golf visitors spend in comparison to other tourists. It's true. They do have more cash. But building another course isn't going to attract loads more golfing tourists. If people go on a golfing holiday they want to play five or six courses. There are suggestions that they might do a sort of Balearic island-hopping golf holiday. They could do that now, but how many people pop over from Majorca for a round in Ibiza? By plane or ferry it's unlikely anybody could do the trip in less than two hours each way allowing for travel to the terminal and check in.

It's also impossible to prove that Ibiza really is the place golfers want to go. There's plenty of other places. In trying to attract them there's the real danger that Ibiza will become the new San Tropez, full of wrinkled brown rich people.
 
The water would be recycled would it? So what! If they are making a 'green' statement with this information they can forget it, golf courses use a ridiculous amount of chemicals, pesticides etc etc to promote growth/stop growth etc etc. Purely on this level, they don't have a leg to stand on.

With regards the financial side of things, i'm not convinced that golfers neccessarily spend more than clubbers, it's just that golfers' expenditure information is much easier to capture and put neatly into figures for everyone to see. I'm almost certain your average joe golfer would not do 200E on a night out!
 
before we get into an Ecology argument could it be that yer average ibicenco would much prefer yer average brown wrinkled person or golfer to thousands of chemically enhanced weirdos trundling round the island's dancefloors at stupid o'clock? just a thought.

i'm feeling a little under par today!
 
stephen said:
your use of E rather than € is deliberate?
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Was actually using an ancient Keyboard at work which didn't have a Euro sign on it, however Dr Freud may need a word methinks!

I understand your point about the locals preferring sedate golfers to mad ravers, and obviously i don't have a leg to stand on in this argument considering i am there for a fraction of the year.

Surely there are enough golf destinations in the world though? There is only one Clubbing mecca, i would be truly gutted if it was fundamentally changed to become another samey golf resort.
 
from the ibiza sun:

Hideaway
The fear and threat residents on the island were faced with during the Spanish Civil War came back to haunt many of the older generation of San Antonio on Friday, at the discovery of secret tunnels built underneath many of the town's most prominent streets. The legendary tunnels have long been talked about by some of the older generation, but it was only until last week some of the town's younger generation got a glimpse of a part of history.
In total there were three tunnels built under the town during 1936. The residents all helped to build them, working day and night, so they would have a refuge if the armies fighting on the Peninsular ever invaded the island.
The tunnels were discovered by Antonio Ramon Costa as he was extending part of the basement of his restaurant, Sa Penya. He knew about the existence of the tunnels but was unsure of exactly where they were located. The one discovered is sixteen metres in length, and runs from Calle Ample to Calle Bisbe Torres. Costa claimed the tunnels could hold over 100 and the island's residents would shelter there every time they heard the sound of planes above.

6y2ghtv.jpg

UH
 
Wow. On an island known for its nude beaches. Go figure. A day at Es Cavallet was probably not in their social diary. I always say a good night is had when either you spot a celebrity (especially when they're doing something silly) or a naked man. So I guess it would have been a good night. :-P
 
Whopee-Do! ..a 5-star hotel and a golf course is going to turn San Antonio into a mecca for businessmen and high spending eco-tourists is it? ..rubbish!!

Every tourist spot in Spain (and along the Meds' coastline for that matter) has half a dozen courses and sophisticated shops etc to go with it. San Antonio just hasn't got the muscle to develop enough shops and hotels to catch them up in the next 10yrs IMHO.

What it has got is a beach big enough for clubbers to chill on, bars and shops for clubbers, restaurants for clubbers to eat at and meg-clubs for err clubbers!! It knows its strength and what it's good at.

That was until far too many people voted a few plonkers into office who look down their noses at the people that put their island on the map. Ibiza has a very special niche.. it's a unique selling point that hundreds of other resorts battling to make a mark for the same tourist market would dearly love to have.

I agree with previous posts here that the benefits of a golf course (economic or ecologial) are being grossly overstated. As I've posted before a golf course takes up considerably more land than a club and what can it hold, maybe 60 people maximum an hour spending £50 average a time. Compare that to Amnesia where 10,000 clubbers spend 40-60euro a ticket and then sum for drinks. No contest.

Ithink these politicians just want somewhere posh to hang out away from the clubbers that fund their political system!
 
ibizasfun said:
That was until far too many people voted a few plonkers into office who look down their noses at the people that put their island on the map.
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san antonio continues with the same party that has been in power during the last decades (the PP) so your comment doesnt make any sense. as i wrote somewhere else, the only changes after the last elections are the return of the PSOE to the consell insular and the arrival of the PSOE in san jose. the rest (san antonio, san juan and santa eulalia with PP; ibiza town with PSOE) remain the same.....
 
ibizasfun said:
Whopee-Do! ..a 5-star hotel and a golf course is going to turn San Antonio into a mecca for businessmen and high spending eco-tourists is it? ..rubbish!!

Every tourist spot in Spain (and along the Meds' coastline for that matter) has half a dozen courses and sophisticated shops etc to go with it. San Antonio just hasn't got the muscle to develop enough shops and hotels to catch them up in the next 10yrs IMHO.

What it has got is a beach big enough for clubbers to chill on, bars and shops for clubbers, restaurants for clubbers to eat at and meg-clubs for err clubbers!! It knows its strength and what it's good at.

That was until far too many people voted a few plonkers into office who look down their noses at the people that put their island on the map. Ibiza has a very special niche.. it's a unique selling point that hundreds of other resorts battling to make a mark for the same tourist market would dearly love to have.

I agree with previous posts here that the benefits of a golf course (economic or ecologial) are being grossly overstated. As I've posted before a golf course takes up considerably more land than a club and what can it hold, maybe 60 people maximum an hour spending £50 average a time. Compare that to Amnesia where 10,000 clubbers spend 40-60euro a ticket and then sum for drinks. No contest.

Ithink these politicians just want somewhere posh to hang out away from the clubbers that fund their political system!
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Whilst I find some of what is happening in Ibiza sad for totally personal reasons, I hardly think that someone from the channel islands should really be spouting about politicians and their motives or reasoning.
 
it is undoubtedly true that 10,000 clubbers in amnesia spend wad loads of cash there and much more than golfers. however i'm fairly certain if you asked your average ibby what type of clubber they'd prefer here then the ones who shout 'fore' before they swing would be the choice.

i hasten to add that my opinion is not based on any facts or figures but mere conjecture.
 
McRackin, thanks for the correction.. I know zilch about Ibizas politico system!. So the mayor is part of a political party? Is he elected by the party or by the people directly into office?

WeLuvIbiza, we regularly receive letters in our press from tourists who like or dislike the Channel Isles and many ex-pats that live here questioning our quaint old political system (can't blame them either). I could write a book on what a cowboy George Bush is as well so I don't think there's anything wrong with offering a mix of critical comments and analysis on Ibiza.

Stephen, if your politics doesn't change your Ibbers are going to find out how many clubbers shout 'fore' before clubbing. Can I suggest you build around 400 golf courses and you might fill 1 club from the lot!
 
i also think your knowledge of tourist numbers and demographics is as ample as that of the political system. sure ibiza's reputation all over the world is the clubbing mecca. unhappily this is as bad as it is good.........

we have around 2 million tourists per year and about 400,000 of them are clubbers. i don't think we need to beat around the bush when we say that the stricter stance of the politicians is because of the drugs.

families, nautical bods, sportsmen, and everyone else in the 1.6 million other tourists do not rely on gun toting members of the underworld and international terrorists for vital supplies.

whilst amnesia and the like would undoubtedly be crying in their ale all night if not a single clubber visited the island again i don't think a single tear would be shed in santa eulalia, portinatx, san miguel, cala llonga es cana ad infinitum where the effect would be zilch

san an's mayor is elected directly by the people of san antonio and is one of the most popular for many a year. possibly he is putting the welfare of his electorate before the wealth of a few club owners in the borough?
 
Out of interest, and digressing slightly. What do you think would become of Ibiza town at night should the clubbing vistors decline rapidly (this is a genuine q. with no agenda!), stephen?
 
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