The 2026 hotel season has closed with a mixed picture across Ibiza and Formentera.
September brought a clear slowdown in hotel occupancy, particularly during the second half of the month. Yet the full May-to-September season remained slightly ahead of 2025 across the Pitiusas, with Ibiza recording a more noticeable improvement while Formentera remained almost unchanged.
The figures from the Federación Empresarial Hotelera de Ibiza y Formentera (FEHIF) also reveal significant differences between Ibiza's tourist areas. Sant Josep recorded the island's largest September decline, Santa Eulària was the only area to improve during the month, and the North was the only Ibiza zone to finish the five-month period below its 2025 result.
September Ends Below 2025
Hotel occupancy across Ibiza and Formentera reached 86.45% in September, compared with 87.61% in September 2025.
That represents a decline of 1.15 percentage points.
The decline became considerably more pronounced during the second half of the month.
Between September 1 and 15, occupancy across the two islands reached 87.65%, just 0.23 points below the same period in 2025.
From September 16 to 30, however, occupancy fell to 85.25%, compared with 87.33% a year earlier. The difference widened to 2.08 percentage points.
Ibiza Still Finishes the Season Ahead
Despite the weaker September, Ibiza finished the May-to-September period with higher accumulated occupancy than in 2025.
The island recorded an average occupancy of 86.34%, compared with 85.17% the previous year.
That represents an improvement of 1.18 percentage points.
Formentera followed a very different pattern. Its accumulated occupancy was 78.81%, almost identical to the 78.85% recorded in 2025.
Across the Pitiusas as a whole, the five-month average reached 85.45%, compared with 84.73% in 2025, an improvement of 0.72 percentage points.
Sant Josep Records the Largest September Drop
Among Ibiza's tourist areas, Sant Josep recorded the sharpest decline in September.
Hotel occupancy fell to 85.83%, compared with 88.91% in September 2025.
The difference was 3.09 percentage points.
The decline was particularly evident during the second half of the month, when occupancy fell from 89.09% in 2025 to 84.20% in 2026.
Despite the weak September, Sant Josep still finished the full May-to-September period above its 2025 result. Accumulated occupancy reached 85.15%, an improvement of 0.87 percentage points.
Santa Eulària Was the September Exception
Santa Eulària was the only Ibiza tourist area to record an increase in hotel occupancy in September.
Hotels in the municipality reached 85.61%, compared with 84.89% in September 2025.
That represents an increase of 0.72 percentage points.
The improvement was recorded during both halves of the month, although the increase was stronger during the second half.
Santa Eulària also recorded the largest improvement among Ibiza's tourist areas over the full May-to-September period.
Its accumulated occupancy reached 85.23%, compared with 83.46% in 2025, an increase of 1.77 percentage points.
Sant Antoni Also Ends Above 2025
Sant Antoni and its bay experienced a decline in September.
Occupancy fell from 88.69% in September 2025 to 86.79% this year, a decrease of 1.90 percentage points.
However, the full-season picture was more positive.
The area finished the May-to-September period above its 2025 accumulated result, meaning the September decline did not erase the gains recorded earlier in the season.
Ibiza City Also Records a September Decline
Ibiza city recorded hotel occupancy of 87.37% in September.
That compares with 88.15% in September 2025, representing a decline of 0.79 percentage points.
The decrease was smaller than those recorded in Sant Josep, Sant Antoni and the North.
Looking at the entire May-to-September period, however, Ibiza city remained among the areas that improved compared with 2025.
The North Is the Main Exception for the Full Season
The North stands out as the only Ibiza tourist area to finish the May-to-September period below its 2025 result.
Accumulated occupancy reached 83.82%, compared with 86.55% during the same period last year.
That represents a decline of 2.72 percentage points.
The area also weakened in September, when occupancy fell from 88.29% in 2025 to 86.21%.
This makes the North the clearest negative exception in Ibiza's accumulated five-month figures.
Formentera Weakens as September Progresses
Formentera recorded a September occupancy rate of 82.20%, down from 84.38% in 2025.
The decline was 2.18 percentage points.
The second half of September was particularly weak.
Occupancy between September 16 and 30 fell to 79.45%, compared with 82.62% during the same period in 2025.
During the first half of the month, occupancy had reached 84.95%.
For the full May-to-September period, however, Formentera remained almost exactly level with the previous year, at 78.81% compared with 78.85%.
A Stronger Start, Weaker Finish
The figures reveal a clear pattern across the end of the season.
The first half of September remained relatively close to 2025 levels, while the second half saw a substantially larger decline.
This means that the overall September result does not tell the whole story.
The same pattern had also appeared in August, when the decline in hotel occupancy was more pronounced during the second half of the month.
The Overall Season Remains Slightly Ahead
Despite the weaker final month, the accumulated figures show that Ibiza's hotel sector finished the five-month period ahead of 2025.
The island's occupancy rose from 85.17% to 86.34%.
Santa Eulària recorded the strongest improvement among Ibiza's tourist areas, while Sant Antoni, Sant Josep and Ibiza city also finished above their previous accumulated results.
The North was the exception.
Formentera, meanwhile, remained virtually unchanged.
The result is therefore not a uniform picture of either growth or decline. Instead, the 2026 season ended with a combination of high overall occupancy, a weaker September and increasingly visible differences between Ibiza's tourist areas.
What the Final Figures Show
The final hotel figures point to a season that remained broadly resilient but lost momentum towards the end.
For Ibiza, the full May-to-September occupancy rate was 1.18 percentage points higher than in 2025, even though September itself declined.
Formentera finished almost unchanged over the full period but experienced a sharper fall in September.
Within Ibiza, Santa Eulària was the strongest exception in September, while Sant Josep recorded the largest monthly decline and the North remained the only area with a negative accumulated result.
The figures therefore show why the island-wide average needs to be read alongside the individual tourist areas and the timing of the declines.
According to FEHIF manager Santiago García, the season was characterised by “contención”, with high occupancy levels but more moderate growth, alongside an increase in the value of the hotel business. That assessment is separate from the occupancy figures themselves and should not be interpreted as a specific measured percentage increase in hotel revenue.