Ibiza's tourism sector should focus less on increasing visitor numbers and more on ensuring that tourism generates greater economic and social value for the island, according to Alejandro Sancho, president of Fomento del Turismo de la Isla de Ibiza.

Sancho made the statement during Fomento's Ordinary General Assembly on September 10, where around 80 representatives from the tourism industry, businesses, institutions and partner organisations gathered at Hotel Vibra Algarb to review the association's work and discuss the challenges facing Ibiza.

The message reflects a broader debate about the future of tourism on the island, where record spending and continued demand are increasingly being weighed against pressures linked to housing, mobility, water, infrastructure and sustainability.

Ibiza Does Not Necessarily Need More Tourists

Sancho argued that the success of Ibiza's tourism model should not be measured simply by how many people arrive on the island.

"The future of Ibiza does not necessarily depend on having more tourists. It depends on those tourists generating greater value for the local economy," he said during the assembly.

For Fomento, that value should extend well beyond hotels and accommodation.

The organisation wants tourism spending to benefit restaurants, shops, leisure businesses, transport companies, activity providers, professional services, suppliers and other parts of the island's economy.

The underlying argument is that the quality of tourism should be assessed by its contribution to the wider community, rather than by visitor numbers alone.

The Numbers Already Point Towards Higher Spending

The discussion comes as the latest tourism figures provide some support for the idea that Ibiza and Formentera can generate greater economic returns without a comparable increase in visitor numbers.

The Pitiusas received just over 711,000 tourists in July 2026, an increase of only 0.65% compared with July 2025.

Tourism spending, however, reached approximately €1.059 billion during the month, up 6.4% year-on-year and the first time the islands exceeded €1 billion in tourism spending in a single month.

Average spending per tourist reached around €1,489, an increase of 5.75%.

The figures also show that visitors were staying longer. Hotel establishments recorded approximately 3.9 million overnight stays in July, 6.4% more than a year earlier, while average stays reached around 5.3 days.

For Fomento's argument, this is an important distinction: tourism value can increase through spending and longer stays even when visitor numbers remain comparatively stable.

Quality Does Not Have to Mean Luxury

Sancho also challenged the idea that a higher-quality tourism model necessarily means concentrating exclusively on luxury.

"Quality is not synonymous with luxury," he said.

Fomento's vision includes major tourism businesses but also smaller companies, family-run establishments and businesses connected to Ibiza's traditions and local identity.

This is an important distinction for an island where luxury tourism has become increasingly visible in recent years.

A higher-value model, according to Fomento's position, does not necessarily mean attracting only visitors with the highest budgets. It also means ensuring that tourism creates opportunities across a broad range of local businesses.

A More Diverse Tourism Economy

Fomento has been building its tourism strategy around specialised product clubs designed to promote different reasons to visit Ibiza.

The organisation's current portfolio includes Eating in Ibiza, Enjoy Ibiza Activities, Ibiza Health & Beauty, Ibiza Luxury Destination and the Ibiza Convention Bureau.

Its wider promotional work is carried out through Descubre Ibiza and other projects.

During the assembly, the organisation reviewed activities carried out during 2025, including participation in national and international tourism fairs, press trips, professional familiarisation trips, business meetings, events, communication campaigns and content production.

The objective has been to present Ibiza as a destination with a wider range of experiences and to create reasons for people to visit outside the busiest summer months.

Extending the Season Beyond July and August

The strategy is closely connected to Fomento's long-standing push for greater tourism seasonality.

Sancho has previously argued that Ibiza's tourist season has already expanded to around seven months and could potentially stretch further, with March and November identified as important opportunities.

Instead of trying to concentrate even more visitors into July and August, the idea is to distribute tourism more evenly throughout the year.

Gastronomy, wellness, active tourism, conferences and business events can all help create demand during periods when traditional beach tourism is weaker.

This approach could also make better use of hotels, restaurants and other tourism infrastructure that currently operates for only part of the year.

MICE Tourism Has a Role to Play

Business events and conferences are one of the segments Fomento sees as particularly relevant to extending the season.

The Ibiza Convention Bureau works specifically on attracting meetings, incentives, conferences and events to the island.

Unlike traditional summer tourism, MICE activity can generate demand during spring, autumn and other periods outside the main beach season.

It can also bring visitors whose spending is distributed across accommodation, restaurants, transport, venues and local services.

For an island dealing with intense peak-season pressure, attracting more activity outside those months could be more useful than simply increasing the volume of arrivals during the summer.

Fomento Highlights the Island's Major Challenges

Tourism cannot be considered independently from the problems facing Ibiza as a whole, according to Sancho.

He identified housing, mobility, water, energy, human resources, illegal activity, sustainability and competitiveness among the main challenges requiring attention.

These issues directly affect the tourism sector but also determine the quality of life of residents.

Housing is particularly significant, as shortages and high prices affect the ability of businesses to recruit and retain workers.

Mobility and infrastructure also become increasingly important during periods of high demand, while water and energy resources face additional pressure during the tourist season.

No Single Sector Can Solve Ibiza's Problems

Sancho called for stronger cooperation between the public and private sectors.

His position is that the island's major challenges cannot be resolved independently by businesses or individual administrations.

Instead, Fomento is calling for a more coordinated approach involving government bodies, companies and other organisations.

The association says this requires island-wide planning, legal certainty, investment and cooperation.

The argument reflects a growing recognition within Ibiza's tourism industry that tourism policy cannot be separated from broader territorial and social planning.

Fighting Illegal Tourism Activity

The association also identified illegal activity, or intrusismo, as one of the challenges affecting the island's tourism model.

Unregulated or illegal accommodation and tourism services can create unfair competition for businesses operating within the legal framework.

For Fomento, improving the quality and value of tourism therefore also involves ensuring that the businesses benefiting from visitor spending operate under appropriate rules.

The issue is particularly sensitive in Ibiza's accommodation market, where the pressure created by tourist demand is closely connected to the wider housing debate.

Putting More Tourism Spending Into the Local Economy

The central idea behind Fomento's proposal is not simply to increase the amount each tourist spends.

It is also about where that spending goes.

A visitor staying in Ibiza may spend money on accommodation, restaurants, transport, boat trips, excursions, cultural activities, wellness services, retail and nightlife.

The more of those services are provided by local companies and employees, the greater the potential economic impact retained within the island.

For Sancho, this wider distribution of tourism income is an important part of defining what a successful tourism model should look like.

Fomento Joins the "Turismo Que Suma" Initiative

The association's latest position also follows its decision in July to join Turismo Que Suma, an initiative promoted by tourism industry organisation Exceltur.

Fomento said the initiative is focused on demonstrating the contribution tourism makes to destinations and the people who live in them, while promoting collaboration, sustainability and shared value.

Its participation fits closely with the message delivered at the September assembly.

Rather than presenting tourism simply as a question of visitor volume, the initiative places greater emphasis on economic, social and cultural contributions to destinations.

A Different Way to Measure Tourism Success

The figures from July provide an interesting example of why this approach is gaining attention.

Visitor arrivals to Ibiza and Formentera barely changed compared with the previous year, while spending rose by more than 6%.

Average expenditure per visitor also increased, and tourists spent more time on the islands.

From a purely volume-based perspective, July's growth was modest.

From an economic perspective, the month was considerably stronger.

This gap between visitor growth and economic growth is at the heart of the discussion over how Ibiza should measure tourism performance in the coming years.

The Five Product Clubs Behind the Strategy

Fomento's work is structured around specialised areas intended to showcase different aspects of Ibiza.

Eating in Ibiza promotes the island's gastronomic offer.

Enjoy Ibiza Activities focuses on experiences and active tourism.

Ibiza Health & Beauty develops the wellness and health segment.

Ibiza Luxury Destination works with the island's high-end tourism sector.

The Ibiza Convention Bureau focuses on meetings, conferences and business events.

Together, these areas allow the destination to promote different reasons for travelling to Ibiza and potentially attract visitors at different points of the year.

Promoting Ibiza Beyond the Traditional Summer Image

The strategy also reflects an effort to broaden the international perception of Ibiza.

The island remains globally associated with beaches, nightlife and summer holidays, but its tourism proposition is significantly wider.

Gastronomy, culture, nature, sport, wellness and business tourism can all contribute to the destination's appeal.

For Fomento, strengthening these segments is not about replacing the traditional Ibiza experience but adding more reasons to visit and more opportunities for local businesses to participate.

The Importance of Small Businesses

Sancho's comments about quality not being synonymous with luxury also highlight the role of smaller businesses.

Independent restaurants, family-owned companies, local producers, activity operators, artisans and other smaller enterprises form an important part of the island's tourism ecosystem.

These businesses can contribute to the sense of place that distinguishes Ibiza from other Mediterranean destinations.

A tourism model focused entirely on international luxury brands could generate significant spending while still reducing the proportion of economic activity directly connected to locally rooted businesses.

Fomento's approach seeks to preserve that wider ecosystem.

Tourism and Residents Are Closely Connected

The debate over tourism value also raises a broader question: how much of the island's tourism success is experienced by residents?

High tourist spending can benefit businesses and generate employment, tax revenue and investment.

At the same time, excessive pressure during the peak season can contribute to congestion, housing shortages and increased demand for scarce resources.

Fomento's call for greater value therefore comes alongside its recognition that tourism must coexist with the needs of the resident population.

The association's emphasis on housing, water, energy and mobility reflects this connection.

A Seven-Month Season Is Already a Major Change

Ibiza's tourism calendar has changed significantly over the decades.

The island is no longer dependent solely on the traditional June-to-September period.

Hotels, restaurants and attractions now operate for longer, and segments such as wellness, gastronomy and MICE tourism can help support activity outside the main summer months.

Fomento believes there is still room to extend this calendar further.

The ambition to make March and November viable parts of the tourism year would represent another step towards reducing the extreme concentration of activity during the height of summer.

The Challenge of Increasing Value Without Increasing Pressure

The central challenge is finding a model that improves economic returns without simply increasing pressure on the island.

More visitors can mean more spending, but they can also mean more traffic, higher resource consumption, more demand for accommodation and greater pressure on public services.

Higher-value tourism offers a possible alternative, provided the additional spending is accompanied by better distribution of economic benefits and a manageable impact on the island's resources.

That balance will be increasingly important as Ibiza considers how tourism should develop over the next decade.

A Tourism Strategy Focused on the Whole Island

Fomento's latest message is ultimately about changing the question being asked.

Instead of asking how many tourists Ibiza can attract, the organisation wants to focus on what those visitors contribute.

How much do they spend?

How long do they stay?

How many local businesses benefit?

How much activity is generated outside the peak season?

And how compatible is tourism growth with the needs of residents and the island's environmental resources?

These are more complicated questions than counting arrivals, but they may provide a more complete picture of tourism's real impact.

Ibiza's Next Tourism Chapter

The latest figures suggest that Ibiza can increase tourism spending without dramatically increasing visitor numbers.

July 2026 provided a clear example, with approximately €1.059 billion in tourism expenditure generated by only a marginal increase in arrivals compared with the previous year.

For Fomento del Turismo, that points towards a model in which value, diversification and distribution matter as much as volume.

The challenge now is turning that principle into policy and practice.

Extending the season, strengthening specialist tourism products, supporting local businesses and addressing housing, water, mobility, energy and sustainability will all require cooperation across the island.

Ibiza may not need to become a destination for more tourists at any cost. The increasingly important question is how the visitors who do come can contribute more to the economy, the community and the long-term future of the island.