The Ibizan paradox: 'luxury' tourists without workers to attend to them

Ibiza“To many workers, it’s no longer worth coming to Ibiza”. The one expressing this forcefully is Guadalupe López, general secretary of Services and Consumption for UGT in the Pitiusas, the majority union in hotels. Her offices handle between 15 and 20 daily inquiries from sector workers, most of them asking if they can arrange a leave of absence. “People can no longer come to Ibiza because they can’t find a place to stay, or they can’t afford it, and since they are seasonal permanent workers, they ask how to request a leave of absence,” explains the union representative. According to the hospitality collective agreement, a seasonal permanent worker can take a maximum leave of absence of two years. “In some cases, the worker inquiring has found a better job on the Peninsula; perhaps not as well-paid as in Ibiza, but with a much lower cost of living; in other cases, they simply can’t find a place to stay,” specifies Guadalupe López. The Balearic Islands hospitality collective agreement is “the best in Spain”, according to her, with salaries in any case exceeding 1,700 euros gross for waiters, kitchen staff, or room attendants; salaries that will increase by 4% this year.

But, even so, the numbers don't add up. It's easy to see how vacation rentals have taken over residential in Ibiza. If you go, for example, to the Idealista portal (the absolute leader in Spain, with more than 50 million monthly visits), you'll find only four rooms on offer for April, between 800 and 1,800 euros per month; if you repeat the search in May there are only two, and if you look for a room for June, July, August... The answer is zero. 'We've looked everywhere, but we haven't found what you're looking for,' Idealista tells you in headline typography and, in case you haven't understood, they add a drawing of a man looking under a rug without finding anything. If you ask real estate agencies, the answer will be quite similar. On the other hand, if instead of selecting the 'Rent' tab on Idealista you choose the one that says 'Vacation', the result is quite different: a beautiful mosaic of bright properties and bright blue swimming pools will unfold before your eyes – not in vain, Ibiza has a census of 10,800 swimming pools – which, obviously, are far beyond the possibilities of a worker. And if you happen to be rich, don't get your hopes up too much either: for August on Idealista there are only five left, of these magnificent properties, with prices around 7,000 euros a week.

For its part, the Pitiusa Hotel Federation denies that leaves of absence are anything new. “It is one more circumstance that is added to the global problem”, considers the manager of the hoteliers, Manuel Sendino. The spokesperson acknowledges that completing staff is very difficult and, at times, an impossible mission. “And then we have to cut services”, he laments. “It is a chronic headache. I don't know if this year we are worse off or better off than other years, but I do know that the difficulty of finding workers has become normalized: there is a lack of dining room staff, kitchen staff, room staff, staff for everything”. Faced with this, most hotel companies have established some type of strategy to provide housing for employees: some have built buildings to house them, some rent buildings or apartments, and some allocate a part of the hotel rooms themselves to staff –as the newly opened Parador de Eivissa has had to do, for example.

Meanwhile, UGT denounces the conditions in which some workers have to live. “There are hotels that provide them with rooms that the employers would certainly not put themselves in”, protests Guadalupe López. “Rooms without ventilation, with dampness, or next to air conditioning units or with pipes crossing the ceiling”. They have also received several cases of “hot beds”: one worker sleeps at night and another occupies the same bed during the day. Conditions that the union considers “indignified”.

Caravans, the last resort

The last option for someone who cannot find accommodation is to move into one of the caravan parks that, in recent years and very rapidly, have sprung up across the Ibizan geography, especially around the capital. This year, the tourist season will begin with a new eviction. The Court of First Instance number 5 of Ibiza has set for next April 29 the eviction of the caravan camp located in the Can Misses area, specifically, on a plot between the Palladium Can Misses stadium (where UD Ibiza plays) and the E-20, the second ring road of Vila. About 80 people live there. "Where will they end up?" asks Guadalupe López. "They will have to go somewhere. We know that some are hotel workers.

It is curious that next to a football stadium named Palladium, a caravan camp is growing. The Ibizan tourist monoculture functions as a paradox. In philosophy and mathematics, a paradox is a statement that leads to two mutually contradictory conclusions, but from which one cannot be dispensed with: Ibiza needs workers, but cannot house them; it wants luxury tourism, but cannot cater to it with qualified staff; it continues to generate wealth, but sends hundreds of people to live in caravans. Ibiza aims to be young, modern, multicultural, and open, but normal people have no place.