José Luis Benítez, manager of Ocio de Ibiza: “The season will be very similar to 2025, if Trump allows it”

The overall assessment made by Ibiza and Formentera’s tourism sector of the May long weekend is “positive” in general terms, although, in many cases, “not all expectations were met” due to the bad weather that prevailed over the past weekend. This is the view of Alfonso Rojo, president of the Small and Medium-sized Business Federation of Ibiza and Formentera (Pimeef), who describes the start of the month as “bittersweet”. “In the case of restaurants, the results could be described as acceptable, but the specific segment of beach terraces slipped up because the weather was not pleasant”, he says.

For his part, Miguel Tur, president of Pimeef Restauración, speaks of “a fairly lively weekend” for the sector, not only thanks to the influx of national and international tourists, but also because Sunday was Mother’s Day, “one of the busiest days of the year” for most restaurants, especially those that are open from January to December.

What are the preferences of those who stay overnight in Ibiza?

The Balearic president of the Spanish Association of Hotel Directors (AEDH), Ibiza-born Alicia Reina, speaks of “good occupancy levels for this time of year, especially concentrated over the weekend, with a mainly international clientele, although there was also some last-minute domestic market”. “We are not yet at high-season figures, but it is clear that demand is picking up and that Ibiza remains a very attractive destination”, she says.

Regarding the preferences of those staying overnight in the island’s hotels, she points to a trend towards “somewhat shorter stays” and a clientele that books with less notice, a dynamic that “has already been consolidating in recent years”. “There is also greater price sensitivity, which means we have to be very strategic in managing rates without losing positioning”, she adds.

“The first days of May are always a time of getting started and occupancy figures are never very high, but it is true that this year, with the long weekend falling right next to the weekend, better results could have been expected, although the weather did not help,” acknowledges the manager of the Ibiza and Formentera Hotel Federation, Manuel Sendino.

For Ibiza’s nightclubs, this long weekend, from 1 to 3 May, “was very quiet” compared with the openings, whose figures, incidentally, “were almost identical to last year’s”. This is according to José Luis Benítez, manager of the Ocio de Ibiza association. “Practically all the island’s nightclubs are now up and running, and the vast majority opened on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and performed well, but of course, it had nothing to do with the openings, which are world-renowned events for which people book their tickets, flights and hotels many months in advance,” he says.

This is the outlook for this season in Ibiza

When it comes to the outlook for the season that has just begun, both the nightlife sector and the hotel industry are “optimistic”, although “the unstable geopolitical situation” is generating a great deal of “uncertainty”. That is the term repeated by everyone consulted.

“At the moment, expectations are good, although there are those alarming reports of airlines announcing that they are going to reduce frequencies, which I think are more like trial balloons to test the situation. Right now, despite global instability, which is the only thing we cannot control, we are not seeing drops in occupancy figures or reservation cancellations,” says Rojo.

“The sooner the conflict in the Middle East ends, the much better it will be for everyone, but nobody should expect petrol prices to fall back to previous levels once an agreement is signed,” he adds.

“The international geopolitical situation has us all on edge”, also says Miguel Tur, who does not dare to predict how the season will go for the restaurant sector. “Unlike hotels, which have medium- and long-term bookings and can more or less foresee how things will go, restaurants live very much day to day,” he explains.

“I think the season is going to be good, very similar to last year’s, but if Trump allows it”, stresses Benítez, after recalling that habits have changed and that holidays are now planned with little notice and that, when choosing a destination, factors such as the weather or flight prices have an influence. “We are immersed in two nearby wars and, above all, one of them, the one in the Middle East, could have quite an impact on prices,” he remarks.

Despite the feeling of “uncertainty” caused by conflicts such as the one in the Middle East, hoteliers, Sendino says, have “good prospects”. This is also confirmed by the Balearic president of the AEDH: “Expectations are moderately optimistic. Bookings for June, July and August are progressing at a good pace, although with that shorter booking window pattern”.

For Reina, it is essential this year to continue focusing on higher-quality tourism, more aligned with sustainability and with better coexistence with residents. “Ibiza has a very powerful brand, but it is essential to take care of it and manage growth properly,” she insists.

What are the main challenges for hotels in Ibiza?

Reina also refers to all the major challenges facing hoteliers this season: “On the one hand, economic uncertainty in some source markets; and on the other, structural problems such as the lack of housing for workers, which remains one of the sector’s main concerns and affects the operation of establishments”.

These are the same challenges mentioned by Sendino. “It has already been accepted that finding workers is difficult and every year a great deal of effort is devoted to trying to complete workforces”, he says.

“The great battleground” for the restaurant sector is also the housing problem, which makes it difficult, especially for seasonal businesses, to attract staff. This is pointed out by Tur, who lists other major challenges such as “price instability”, which sometimes means menus have to be changed when a product becomes much more expensive.

In the case of nightclubs, “for the time being, they are not having problems filling their teams”. “We are a sector with very loyal people, usually young people who come to Ibiza every year to do the season. Some of them came over for the weekend to work at the openings and will return a little later”, he says.