Tourism

Ibiza is the third in size among the islands of the Balearic archipelago the island covers about 572 km2 area. Combined with the small islands of Formentera, it forms the Pitiusas Islands. Ibiza has a population of about 83,912 inhabitants. The main economic activity of the town is sun and sand tourism. In addition, the masses are always euphorically carried away in the current of music and discotheques, the nightlife is simply amazing.  The tourism industry in Ibiza is seasonal the high season traditionally commences early of June and ends early October with closing parties. The capital city of Ibiza, Eivissa is famous for its exquisite port and the medieval walls that surround the itu (Dalt Vila) among other beautiful sites. In 1999, this site was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO. The local government is currently working towards modifying, its touristic model, this is aimed at incorporating most of the patrimonial and cultural values of Eivissa, the city of Ibiza so that tourists can enjoy their visit to Ibiza. This strategy is aimed at getting more of the summer season-which is the high season and spreading the concentration of tourists throughout the year thus improving the tourism benefits to the local society. Ibiza has now become a colony of Europe, predominantly British. A larger portion of the environment is still natural. However, a significant part has been lost completely to the party animals. It is utterly impossible for Ibiza to get rid of this new culture-it defines Ibiza. In such a sleazy scene, the environment and culture tend to take a back seat, while development drives. Ibiza has not been despoiled as many would argue. There are still many alluring scenes the breathtaking view of Es Vedra rock, medieval defense towers and churches and the beautiful beaches are among the largely unspoiled sceneries (National Geographic Society 2008).

INTRODUCTION
Tourism has been termed a key element of economic growth on a supranational level. The coastal areas have been the main focus of environmentalists advocating for sustainable development. Tourism is normally assumed to be putting increasing pressure on coastal landscapes, the ecosystem and cultural heritage sites, specifically their management. In Ibiza, tourism is largely dependent on nature to attract visitors (see Appendix-1). Hence, protection of cultural and natural heritage is a prerequisite for sustainable coastal tourism. These cultural and natural heritage sites should be protected in an efficient manner so as to ensure that the tourism activity continues to be productive even in the long run. This implies that sustainable coastal tourism should be able to achieve both the objectives of protection and development concurrently.  This is the reason why many countries of the world are increasingly committing themselves to the improvement of their natural resources and cultural heritages by ratifying supranational agreements on sustainable tourism. In Eivissa the natural heritages is represented in the citys biodiversity, value of its recreational amenities, etc. These sites are managed in tandem with the regulations and requirements of the ratified Convention on Biological Diversity. This convention has two main objectives conservation of ecological diversity and sustainability of its elements (COASTLEARN 2010).

ANALYSIS
Environmental impacts
Tourism activities can create enormous pressure on local resources, e.g. energy, land, and water which in most cases may be in short supply. The Third Assessment of Europes environment has documented that, the concentration of tourists in time and space directly impact on people and the environment at the tourist destinations. Eivissa is no exception since it remains to be one of the leading tourist destinations in the world. Ibiza has been one of the most popular holiday destinations for many young Europeans. Local resources are pressurized in various ways such as intensive use of land and water and leisure amenities. The utilization of energy, changes in landscape due to construction of infrastructure and waste pollution. In addition, environmental impacts include destruction of the flora and fauna, and disturbance of the local community due to noise pollution (Ecociencia 2010).

Ibiza has been receiving an increasing number of tourists, who are visiting the sensitive areas- port and the medieval walls, may jeopardize concerted efforts towards nature conservation.  In other areas, conflicts may arise in some cases-especially between tourism development programs and other economic sectors say agriculture and forestry. Agriculture has shaped and changed the way of life of the people of Eivissa (TOUREG 2009).

Socio-cultural impacts
The socio-cultural impacts of Ibiza tourism are the effects on the local community, direct and indirect associations with tourists and the interaction with the entire tourism industry. For a number of reasons, local communities in Ibiza are the weaker party in interactions with their visitors. These impacts occur since tourism has brought about several changes in the way activities are done and in the societys value system. Tourists have changed the behavior of the society, hence has threatened indigenous identity. In addition, these changes have touched on community structure, ceremonies, family relationships, and morality. These have occurred in several ways
Crime, Violence and substance abuse
Ibiza has now become famous for a number of criminal activities which are on the increase especially due to the urbanization and growth of the Island as a result of an influx of tourists. Researchers have posited that, increased mass tourism is mostly accompanied by increased crime rates. The presence of a of tourists in large numbers with lots of money to spend, who usually carry valuable items such as jewelry and cameras catch the attention of criminals. Such activities come with vices like robbery, substance and sexual abuse. Tourism may not be a primary cause of sexual exploitation, but it is a channel to it. Crime and violence in the Balearic Islands, notably Ibiza is majorly associated with the thriving nightlife environment. Nightlife activity has been largely reported in the media as having serious incidents of violence- which is a major issue in the islands during the peak season (summer). The experience of violence among holidaymakers is yet to be previously explored. Ibiza has notably been somehow tolerant towards misbehavior, especially from young adult tourists the tourist hub has even been labeled the Gomorrah of the Med (Hauritz M, et al., 2004).
Table-1, Appendix 1 shows the reasons for visiting Ibiza. First you will note that Most tourist go to Ibiza due to the night life activity then due to weather and culture. Here it is notable that nightlife activity is the most attractive factor to Ibiza as a tourist destination.

Ibiza is a location that contains popular nightlife hence one could argue that her resources are relatively stretched in terms of dealing with violence linked to the nightlife activity (Hughes  Bellies 2007). The police and criminal justice agencies must be able to deal with the violent activities that are very prevalent in Ibiza. Their duties of investigating violence and prosecuting the offenders should be conspicuous in order to maintain the reputation of Ibiza as an attractive tourist destination (Bellies  Hughes 2008 Mayor of London 2008). In such as setting where nightlife violence has been recognized as a major issue, authorities should devote more resources to prevention through the provision of additional policing and security in the nightlife areas and should partner with nightlife industries to enhance safety in the tourism sector (Wallin, Norstrm  Andrasson 2007).

Economic impacts
The costs of conventional tourism are intrinsic and are unfavorable to the local community. These impacts can be analyzed as follows with respect to Ibiza

Infrastructure costs
Tourism development costs the local taxpayers and the government huge sums of money. When developing tourism, the government is responsible for improving the airports, security and roads among other infrastructure. Public utilities spent on subsidized infrastructural goods or tax breaks may cause the government to reduce investment in other vital areas such as healthcare and education (COASTLEARN 2010).

Increase in prices
There is an increasing demand for basic commodities from tourists which has led to an increase in prices, this has affected local residents negatively-their incomes have not proportionally increased in response to this. This is mostly related the rise in demand for real estate, characteristically leading to land values and building costs. This impact on the local community in two ways first, they are not able to meet their basic needs, and second it may result into a dominance of the property market by outsiders who may eventually erode economic opportunities for the local residents. When tourists live in their second homes for longer time prices in these new homes rise, especially if their numbers are quite significant (COASTLEARN, 2010).

Economic reliance on tourism
It is clear that Tourism in Ibiza is the main (if not the sole) economic activity. This puts Ibiza in a more vulnerable position, anything that negatively impacts on the tourism industry (e.g. terrorist threats, insecurity, and impacts of natural disasters among others) will have devastating impacts on entire economic climate.

Seasonality in character of jobs
Seasonality in the Ibiza tourism industry affects the economy since the tourism is the key economic driver of the economy, due to overreliance on it. Problems of seasonality are mostly depicted in seasonal workers who face a myriad of issues ranging from job insecurity to low incomes this is because the worker is simply not guaranteed of employment as the industry transits from one season to the other other difficulties include getting training, flexibility benefits, experience, poor quality housing and unfavorable working conditions (Butler, 1980).

RECOMMENDATIONS
Quantifying the benefits of sustainable tourism
Tourism is significantly part of the economy of Ibiza. Since the environment is a basic element of the tourism industry in Ibiza, resources (assets and revenues from tourism) should be engaged in measuring the economic value of the reserved areas. This will help in quantifying the benefits of sustainable tourism in Ibiza and henceforth the drafting of a clear and implementable policy on sustainable tourism. Another problem that should be looked at is the collection of tourist expenditure data which should be recorded as a vital macro-economic statistic. However, the tourism industry is quite challenging since, revenues from tourism are mostly earned through the informal economic sector, such as street vendors, taxis, and informal guides inter alia. The good side of this is that, the informal sectors money is returned to the local economy and has what economists refer to as a multiplier effect as it is keeps circulating in the economy.  It is estimated that, tourism an indirect contribution equal to 100  of direct tourism expenditures (World Travel and Tourism Council 2008).

Environmental sustainability
The last century has witnessed the roles of Ibiza beaches being completely reversed beaches are mow regarded as key drivers of economic welfare and not inhospitable place. However, the pressure and the overuse of these facilities have raised a lot of concern. It has become more like complex to maintain the natural allure of these attractions and at the same time enjoy the revenues (talk about having your cake and eating it at the same time). However, sustainability of Ibiza tourism can be enhanced as follows First, Ibiza should form an integrated authority to manage the beaches. This authority should be responsible for the reorganization of the entire territory including its periphery, in a manner that the natural sites can gain from that process and have capacity to cater for a concentration of tourism in a particular area. This should also be accompanied by the incorporation of environmental costs into the prices of the tourism products.

Secondly, existing information should be disseminated effectively. The government should coordinate accordingly with all the stakeholders that are associated with the costal bodies (Ecociencia (2010). As a matter of fact, information should be made public this includes information on the latest aspects of sustainable tourism, the protected and the favored sites and on seminars. This will allow for easier exchange of opinions, findings and methodologies. As a result, Ibiza will be enhancing environmental education (UNESCO 2002).

Implementation
Ibiza should have an action plan that clearly stipulates the implementation strategies and address the various questions posed. The plan should clearly state who is responsible for what, how and when should they implement the objectives. The actions should be tailored to suit specific circumstances. In general, action plans include measures in the following areas

Administration this where co-operation between stakeholders sectors and developmental models across all sectors this includes the local people in making tourism policies and decisions
Socio-economical sector this can be done through the  promotion of local purchasing of basic commodities and building material the respective authorities crates a network of local service providers so as to enhance marketing the creation of new tourist products that meet the specific needs of tourists.

Environment this can be done through the identification of habitats construction of perimeter walls around sensitive natural areas enactment of environmental laws that prohibit environmentally harmful activities among other actions.

Knowledge People should be trained and involved in coastal tourism especially about the value of historical sites. Other forms of training should be in areas of environmental protection and management. This will help in raising environmental consciousness among the local populace (The joint world heritage centre 2009).

CONCLUSIONS
Tourism is a diverse sector that is inter-linked to various economic activities, services and even industries. The tourism industry impacts on sectors such as construction, transport, retail industry and on the various sectors that offer holiday products, leisure and business travel-related services (The Valencia Tourist Agency 2003).  In Eivissa, the tourism industry is dominated by SMEs. The key successful element of sustainable tourism industry is the capability to identify and deal with various changes that occur in the industry.  These types of changes take place in the global tourism industry, and they present both threats and opportunities to the private and the private sectors. These are the stakeholders that are working towards achieving a sustainable tourism industry that is also innovative.  In examining the primary elements of Eivissa, research results have indicated that, the slow and continuous changes are taking palaces in the contemporary tourism industry, tourism experiences are changing due to innovations that mainly involve individual tourism products. In order to have a tourism industry that is responsible, there should be a proper environmental planning and management, and assessment system that is responsible for evaluating the economic viability of investments in the tourism industry and their impacts on nature (since nature is a tourism product) the types of benefits for the tourism activity for nature and the local populace. Positive economic impacts of sustainable tourism are in the form of foreign exchange earnings, increased government revenues, the creation of business and employment opportunities (World Travel and Tourism Council 2010).