This is how your clients' tourism tax is spent in the Balearics

10 Jan 2025by

Xenia Taliotis

Our writer visits Ibiza and Formentera in the off season to learn about vital projects funded by the tax including the conservation of native wall lizards and the preservation of a precious marine ecosystem

Playa de Migjorn is a crown jewel for Formentera © Manfred & Balearic Ministry for Economic Model, Tourism and Labour

Who would have thought that an olive tree, a symbol of peace, could bring such trouble? And yet, for the native wall lizards of Ibiza, the tree has proved an implacable foe – a Trojan horse that has brought devastation to its species.

Harbouring in the crevices of ancient varieties brought from Spain to the islands by property-owners wishing to landscape their gardens, were ladder and horseshoe whip snakes with a taste for lizards. ‘Since the snakes arrived, nearly 20 years ago, they have eaten some sub-species of the wall lizard into extinction, and severely impacted others,” says Victor Colomar, vet at Consorcio para la Recuperación de la Fauna de las Islas Balears (Cofib), which aims to protect native animal and plant species.

“We don’t have precise numbers, but lizard populations have shrunk dramatically, while the snakes have proliferated.”

Before they arrived, says Victor, the lizards were so abundant that I would have needed to tread carefully to avoid them. As it is, I have to look for their flashes of blue, streaks of green and dashes of orange.

Ibiza's lizard population has been decimated by invasive snakes © Balearic Islands Tourism Board

A plague on the islands

“We have a huge problem. The snakes like it here, so they have bred well. And they are good swimmers, so they have travelled to many of the islets surrounding Ibiza, where they are also preying on indigenous birds.”

Part of Victor’s job is to solve this problem, and today he and I are walking around a tiny area of the island’s jewel – Ses Salines Natural Park – to see if he has caught any snakes. He checks one, two, three traps – nada. Just the live mice he uses as bait, but not sacrifice – the mice are in a different compartment from the one the snakes fall into, so remain unharmed.

None today, at least not in these ones. But there are 2,000 traps in Ibiza, plus 500 in Formentera and 200 in the islets, and there have been times when they have been very busy: between 2016 and 2024, 12,436 snakes were captured in Ibiza, and 5,901 in Formentera.

Funding for the traps – part of a wider project to protect endemic species – has come from the Sustainable Tourism Tax. Introduced in the Balearics in 2016, it applies to everyone aged over 16, and is collected by hoteliers and apartment owners throughout the islands. Rates vary according to season and type of establishment.

The levy’s purpose is to offset the damage inflicted by tourism with the financing of projects that protect the country’s natural, built and cultural heritage, and the amount of money raised is not insignificant. Since 2016, a total of 297 projects have been approved for a total amount of €861 million financed by the tax, 110 of which have already been completed.

Culture club

Despite being ideally aged to have enjoyed Ibiza’s club scene, an unspent youth means that this is my first visit to the island, and I have reduced the chances of going clubbing even further by coming off-season, when the island hunkers down for winter, and the visitors are an altogether more cultured crowd, chasing the last rays of Europe’s sun. Ibiza old town is a joy for them and me, and I spend time wandering the ancient alleys, enjoying the unhurried pace of not being hustled or bustled.

I have come with the voices of those who have been many times ringing in my ears. Friends urged me to head to the north, telling me that I would fall into an intoxicated love with the ancient forests there, that I would feel invigorated by scrambling up rugged cliffs and then plunging my dusty feet, face and hands in the cool waters of its isolated coves. I don’t manage to get to the north, but even rooted in the city, as I am, I see that, like me, Ibiza has grown up. The ravers might still come for shots of nostalgia, but they’re probably rising at dawn, not heading to bed then.

Selling tips

Zoe Towers, head of product, at Jet2holidays says: “Demand for Formentera has been strong since we launched the destination, and that has been driven by customers looking for a seafront stunner. Formentera is the perfect choice for holidaymakers looking for laid-back bliss and a short flight. The island is renowned for its pristine beaches and crystal-clear waters. Playa de Illetes is often ranked among the best beaches in the world, a great selling point. The island is easy to explore and features great bars, restaurants and water sports too.”

My next stop, Formentera, gives me the salt-splattered sea walks I crave. This tiny island, a 40-minute ferry crossing from Ibiza, is all I could hope for, and particularly so off-season. The throw me, catch me journey, as the ferry bounces from one wave to the next, hints at the wilderness and exposure to the elemental force of nature that shakes life into me.

I set off to meet Daisee Aguilera, a marine biologist and environmental consultant who works with Save Posidonia Project – another recipient of Sustainability Tax funding – in her hut among the dunes of La Savina. She steps out to greet me, but the wind is so loud that it carries her words away.

Lungs of the Mediterranean

Once inside, she tells me about Posidonia Oceanica, the sea grass that is the lungs of the Mediterranean. It’s a 100,000-year-old, 8km-long, emerald-green underwater meadow that produces more oxygen per square metre than the Amazon, says Daisee. “It is a Unesco World Heritage Site, but we still need to fight to protect it.

Posidonia Oceanica is an oxygen-producing underwater meadow © Balearic Islands Tourism Board

“A primary threat is from yachts that come too close to the shore. Their anchors cause enormous damage to that precious ecosystem – to the grass, and to all the life it supports. Pollution and fishing are also constant threats. Posidonia is slow-growing – just 1cm a year. A dragging anchor can destroy who knows how many hundreds, maybe even thousands of years of life.”

I leave Daisee and walk along the dunes, but the wind is overpowering. Even when I try to use its power to propel me forward, it is impossible work, but my goodness the beauty of the coast, even when its raging.

At my hotel, the exemplary, simply furnished, no-mod-cons Hotel Casbah – a jewel of a place with a spectacular restaurant that is set in a pine forest that soon leads to the long sands of Playa Migjorn – I look around at the other guests. The staff are already planning their departure as the hotel will close the following week, but there is still good occupancy.

I ask the waiter who is looking after me what type of person typically comes to Formentera. “People who love nature, tradition, culture,” he says. “People who find pleasure in the slowness of change here. Of course, things are happening – new accommodation, new restaurants – but it is so easy to access what was, and what hopefully will always be. Hopefully the heart of Formentera will not change, and it will always remain true to itself.”

His words strike me as a declaration of love that shows why the tourist tax presents such a critical investment for the islands' futures.

Book It: Jet2holidays offers seven nights' half-board at the four-star Insotel Hotel Formentera Playa on Formentera, with flights departing from Manchester on 16 May 2025, from £801pp, based on two sharing.
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