There will be fewer cars this summer in Ibiza. This Sunday, the Spanish island began to limit, for four months, the number of vehicles of visitors, in an attempt to reduce the inconvenience linked to the surfrequents of this tourist paradise of the Mediterranean Sea.
Between June 1 and September 30, only 20,000 non-resident vehicles will be able to circulate daily on the island, of which 16,000 will be rental cars belonging to the island’s fleet, and 4,000 individuals, which will have to register beforehand.
The caravans, moreover, must have a place reserved in a campsite and will no longer be able to park in the wild. Motorcycles will be excluded from the limitations applying to this island famous for its beaches and its nightlife.
“The general interest of the privileged island”
The restriction of vehicles is “a turning point” to “guarantee the sustainability” of the island, wrote the president of the island government of Ibiza, Vicent Mari, in an article published Sunday in El Periódico de Ibiza formente.
“It is true” that “many sectors have expressed their opposition” to this regulation, “large maritime companies as multinational vehicle rental,” he continued. But “beyond that,” he added, must prevail “the general interest of an island which has majority expressed its desire to control tourism flows that have become unbearable”.
According to the Diario de Ibiza, car rental companies had asked to have 10,000 additional vehicles in circulation per day compared to the 16,000 which were allocated to them.
The entry of vehicles to Ibiza, which has 160,000 inhabitants and which we travel from start to finish by car in an hour, quadrupled in two decades, from 51,000 in 2001 to 207,000 in 2022, according to official data.
With this measure, Ibiza joins another island in the Balearic Archipelago which restricts the entrance to vehicles, FORMERA, smaller. That of Mallorca must do the same from 2026.
In various places in the country, such as the Balearic Islands, Barcelona, the Canary Islands and Andalusia, protest movements against tourism have increased in recent months, residents mainly complaining about the shortage of housing as well as the precariousness and seasonality of local jobs.
About 19 million tourists visited the Balearic Islands in 2024, according to official statistics, and among them, 3.6 million Ibiza and Formentera. Tourism around the world returned to the levels of COVID-19 pandemic that year.
Spain, where it represents 13 % of GDP, received a record number of 94 million tourists in 2024, and is the second country in the world in number of visitors after France.