The two largest tour operators on the island have demanded better security across the island, at a meeting with the Hotel Federation on Thursday, organised by the FTO (Federation of Tour Operators).
The meeting, which lasted several hours, was attended by leading figures of Tui Travel and Thomas Cook, as the two began to turn the screw in the hope the Federation could put pressure on the Island Council and in particular, the councillor for tourism, Pepa Mari, into making much needed changes.
Both called for security on the island to be improved and for a greater police presence in the main tourist centres, to try and create a more attractive environment for families.
Both are particularly worried about the growing reputation of the island as a party destination, which concentrates on the youth market. Whilst this is clearly true to a degree, both tour operators believe the island has a great deal to offer as a family destination, once a few small changes are made.
They also called for more security inside some of the islands hotels, after a growing number of incidents, especially around the San Antonio area. The FTO claimed a few properties had become blasé about who was entering their hotel, which had in turn caused problems with ticket-sellers hassling guests inside their rooms, which had consequently led to a spate of robberies.
Riera said he completely agreed with the arguments of the FTO and explained the two companies were not asking for anything out of the ordinary and merely wanted to create a safer environment which would mean families visiting the island did so in the knowledge that they were completely safe whilst here.
However, the tour operators went a stage further and demanded action be taken on the island as part of their family-friendly beaches campaign. These include shaded play areas on the beach, with additional shaded areas for parents. They also called for improved street lighting across the island.
Finally, the tour operators, which since their respective mergers with First Choice and My Travel, now bring the majority of the 425,000 tourists set to visit the island this summer, demanded that all public building work was finished before the tourists began arriving in May. These comments came on the back of the chaos caused at the start of the season in the bay of San Antonio after the Plan of Excellence remained unfinished during the entire month of May, causing a tirade of complaints which forced both companies to divert a number of their guests away from properties in Cala de Bou.

AROUND THE ISLAND
High Class Property
While the general property market continues to suffer across the island, the president of the Association of Realtors, Ramon Arnau, claimed the top end of the market has remained unaffected. His comments came as the promoters of the Life Marina Ibiza complex in the port of Ibiza - the exclusive building designed by the internationally-renowned architect, Jean Nouvel - claimed the vast majority of their apartments, which were selling for 6,000 per m2, had been sold.
Aran suggested that the ongoing crisis was not affecting the richer element keen to buy a property on what is still seen as an exclusive island. He added that they had no cash flow problems and were almost certain to get any mortgage that they asked for at the bank, whilst the middle and lower earners were struggling to raise finances.
Es Cubells remains the most expensive area in Ibiza, with prices reaching 11,500 per m2, with the key attraction to any property being the view.
The news came on the back of comments by the college of architects in Ibiza and Formentera which reported there had been 82.4 per cent less new properties registered during the first six months of the year, in comparison to last year.
The report was confirmation that most sectors were not escaping the doom and gloom, including the car market, as it was reported the sale of cars fell by a staggering 65 per cent during July. The Association for Car Dealerships on the island said the uncertain situation and the difficulty of securing credit were the main causes of the drop.

Drugs Worry
A report out last week revealed the continuing connection of Ibiza with its nightlife. Whilst the Island Council insists on trying to promote the more cultural side of the island, it appears the varied nightlife remains one of the main reasons youngsters are still flocking to the party capital.
The survey was carried out by Irefrea, the professional European network founded in 1988 and interested in the promotion and research of prevention of drug and other child and adolescent problems. It interviewed around 1,500 people split between Spanish, German and British youths as they checked in for their flights home.
Amongst other things the report revealed a total of 89 per cent of British people between the age of 18 and 35 chose to holiday on the island because of its nightlife. This was by far the highest, with 74.5 per cent of Germans, and 64.5 per cent of Spanish choosing to holiday here because of the nightlife.
However, the most worrying part of the report revealed the suspected high consumption of drug-taking in Ibiza. A massive 44.2 per cent of Brits claimed they had taken ecstasy whilst on holiday, half of whom took it on at least five separate occasions during an average weeks stay. Most also admitted they were not regular users of the drug when at home, with 13 per cent admitting they had taken it for the very first time whilst on the island.
Not surprisingly whilst discussing problems encountered on their holiday, 41.9 per cent of Brits admitted having been ill at least once, with an astonishing 11.6 per cent also involved in a fight whilst here.
Even more worrying was the fact that a third of single visitors to the island had unprotected sex at least once whilst here, with 13 per cent having had sexual relations with more than one person, all of the time without protection, although the Brits finished bottom of this list, with both the Germans and Spanish far more promiscuous.
The stats are worrying news for the Island Council who are attempting to change the islands image and make it a far more family-friendly environment.

Falling Numbers
Hotel occupancy on the island continued its downward trend in July as the latest figures showed a 6.8 per cent decrease from last year. Occupancy levels reached 81.73% during the month, considerably down on last years figure of 87.71%. The president of the Hotel Federation, Joan Riera Ramon, said the figures continued with the general swing south witnessed until now on the island. He said the falls were due to a shortening of holiday time, although he did confirm that there had been around 60,000 less visitors to the island, mostly from the three main markets - the Spanish, German and British.
He suggested that there were also far more youngsters coming to the island, at the expense of family tourism. However, they were coming for less time.
Once again the area most affected continues to be the beach resorts of San Jose which witnessed falls of 19.2 per cent compared to last year. The north of the island also suffered an 8.2 per cent decrease, followed by San Antonio and the bay (7.2 per cent), Santa Eulalia (5.8 per cent), Formentera (5.7 per cent) and Ibiza Town (3.9 per cent).
However it was not all bad news with occupancy in August looking healthy with levels expected to reach 95% until 24th August. However, the situation during the last week in August would very much depend on how the late market moved, although things were not looking too healthy for September.
From 13th August to 19th August, traditionally the busiest time of the year, a total of 263,000 visitors passed through the airport building, with the highest total recorded on Saturday 16th August with 55,373 travellers registered.
The councillor for tourism, Pepa Mari, commenting on the results, claimed that although we were dealing with a 6 per cent fall, the situation had not yet reached crisis point. She added that the number of people visiting the island was still similar to last year; what had changed was a shortening of the average stay, which she said was a global phenomenon.
She continued that the island should be using this latest trend to its advantage far more in the winter months, and revealed she had been in contact with both the National Tourist Board, Turespana, and Ibatur about helping to finance a new project to encourage more visitors in the winter months. The idea, which is called Ibiza slow breaks will involve capturing the weekend break market, whether they are coming to the island for a conference, wedding or just on holiday. The emphasis will be put on the stress-free, relaxed feel of the island during the low season. Mari said a webpage will be set up where additional services would be offered to complement their stay, for instance, by booking a cultural tour, studying a list of the restaurants open, or hiring a car.
The project is set to cost a total of 6 million, 2/3rds of which Mari is hoping will be financed by the two associations.
However, despite this news, at present there is a clear downward trend, which unfortunately is hurting three of the islands key markets. Airport figures up to the end of July showed 328,500 British people had arrived on the island, 18,804 less than the same six months last year. The German market was also 16,562 passengers down, registering a total of 145,246 travellers, whilst the Italians were down by 10,469. Fortunately, these figures were eased by the arrival of 22,000 more Spanish nationals.

New Record
As predicted by the electricity provider, GESA, the use of electricity on the island reached a record high for the third time this month. As temperatures continued to soar late Tuesday afternoon consumption reached a record 199.3 megawatts, 5 more than the previous highest set on 7th August.

Airport Modernisation
The Airport Authorities, (AENA), announced on Friday that work on constructing new fingers at the islands airport would begin next summer. The terminal is currently undergoing a complete overhaul, as AENA bring it into line with other airports across the country. This will also involve the building of finger docks which will enable passengers to disembark the plane via a walkway in order to directly access the airport terminal, ensuring tiresome bus rides becoming a thing of the past.
The exact number of fingers has yet to be finalised but will be between four and seven, according to sources close to the project.

IBIZA TOWN
Slick Response
The Town Hall of Ibiza tried to calm the growing alarm in Talamanca beach after bathers began emerging from the sea with oil stains on their skin. The councillor in charge of the beaches of the municipality said there was no reason to worry and that the Don Pedro, which sank just over a year ago, had been well sealed and that the minute slicks being found were left over from last years cleanup operation. However, the department confirmed tests were constantly being carried out and the water posed absolutely no threat to swimmers using the beach.

Complete Change
The new water purifier in Ibiza Town should be fully operational by March 2009, according to the councillor for the environment at the Town Hall of Ibiza, Joan Rubio. The Balearic Government, which is in charge of the project, announced last week that they hoped the tender to carry out the work could be finalised by October. The work, according to Rubio, will take just three months, and so, barring any last minute hitches, should be up and running during the first three months of the year.
The current purifier, which was constructed in 1990, was only originally given a lifespan of 15 years. Rubio explained that the entire purifier will be changed and only the outside walls will remain the same.
The project is part of a 14 million conversion which will also see improvements made to the San Antonio purifier.

SAN ANTONIO
Postal Change
The post office in San Antonio is to undergo refurbishment this winter which will adapt the office for disabled customers. The work, which will cost just over 615,000 will get underway in October and take eight months to complete. In the meantime the office will be transferred to the old Town Hall building on the Paseo Miramar. This new office has been adapted over the last couple of months, work which had to be halted due to the start of the tourist season, and which will be finished in October.

Counter Claims
The Town Hall of San Antonio responded to the recent criticism about the state of the municipality, by claiming recycling had increased dramatically so far this year. However, just one figure was given, impressive though it was. The collection of paper and carton has increased by a phenomenal 465 per cent since June, boosted by a door to door collection service started by the Town Hall and for which 41 companies have already signed up to.
The councillor in charge of the cleanliness of the municipality, Juan Linde Parra, claimed the doubling of the population during the summer months caused a great deal more rubbish, and whilst they continued to try and improve the service, he called on the public to do their part. He also announced an increase in the number of containers available across the borough which now stands at 868, which allows a total of 1,140,700 litres of rubbish to be collected.

Offensive Posters
The Town Hall has asked Privilege club to remove all posters of their SuperMartxe night from public areas. The councillor for tourism, Jose Ramon Serra Pilot, said the poster, which showed pornographic content, was unacceptable and not the most intelligent way to promote the island. He claimed the municipality should not be selling itself so cheaply, and even less so when the posters were placed in public places.

Excess Noise
Friday saw the Town Hall sealing yet another music system after a series of complaints from neighbours. The bar in question is below a hotel and the excessive noise meant a number of the guests were unable to sleep without being disturbed. Officers carried out a number of sound checks in the area before confirming the sealing of the system and a fine, the amount of which is yet to be confirmed.

SAN JOSE
DC-10 Order
The mayor of San Jose, Josep Mari Ribas, announced on Monday the closure of the controversial DC-10 club for a year. The action comes as the club completed its two month ban enforced back in June, for a series of drugs offences committed in 2006.
The sentence, which includes a 300,000 fine, was ordered for repeated offences involving noise pollution in the area, and exceeding the capacity of the bar which remains at 68 people. The mayor added that the club did not even possess a café-concierto permit, merely a bar license. The property has also undergone a number of extensions in annexes surrounding the main bar without the necessary permission being granted.
However, he confirmed the owners would be able to appeal against the ruling, meaning a visit to court, which was likely to take some time.
DC-10 was one of two bars shut for drug offences by the authorities, the other being Kumharas, in the bay of San Antonio. The third business threatened with closure remains Bora-Bora, although that ruling has been temporarily suspended while a court date for their appeal is set. However, Ribas was quick to point out that if the administration won the case, the ban would be served at their request, avoiding the closure being carried out during the winter months when the bar would normally be shut.
The comments by the mayor came as a documentary on channel Cuatro about holidaying habits around the country showed drugs being taken openly, close to Bora-Bora. Madrids representative on the island, Sofia Hernanz, called the footage shameful and said her department would be reacting accordingly.
The councillor for social policies and health, Patricia Abascal, revealed her administration had sent a formal complaint to the television channel to complain about the report. She added that the number of cases involving drugs at Can Misses were actually down this year in comparison to both 2006 and 2007, although she said she was aware the fight had not yet been won, and more needed to be done to try and educate youngsters about the dangers of drugs.

SANTA EULALIA
Greener Beaches
The councillor for tourism at the Town Hall, Carmen Ferrer, proudly announced on Wednesday that two beaches within the municipality had received the prestigious green flag award. The presentation was made after the Rio de Santa and Santa Eulalia beaches were seen to have an efficient system of environmental management, and a commitment to the preservation of the environment through a series of evaluations and controls based on the compliance of regulation ISO 14.001 of environmental management.
She continued that this was not just any award and hoped the entire promenade would soon be awarded the honour, which needs to be renewed on a yearly basis. The prize backs up claims made by the mayor, Vicent Mari, during his election campaign that this would be the greenest Town Hall in the municipalitys history, a promise which he is, for the time being, living up to.

Aguas Opens
The newest 5-star hotel on the island opened its doors on Friday, as Aguas de Ibiza welcomed its first guests. After a trial month which involved dummy guests, the hotel in the heart of Santa Eulalia was opened to the public. However, the top floor of the property will not ready until September, whilst the Spa should be up and running by October. Aguas De Ibiza

Hotel Extension
Can Curreu, the popular agro-hotel in San Carlos, has presented a project to the Town Hall which is set to transform the small 10 bedroom hotel into a 42-room luxury complex. The plans involve the construction of a number of annexes, all on just one floor, which will house the additional rooms, most of which will be suites of around 50-60 metres in size.
The project will also see a hydrotherapy pool being built, in addition to a Finnish sauna, an area for reflexology and shiatsu massages, as well as a foot spa.
The plans will take the current hotel from 717 m2 to 1,416 m2, and although it is yet to receive official approval from the Town Hall, a source said they believed the project would be of great benefit to the municipality.

Thumbs Up
The new health clinic planned for Jesus has been given the go-ahead by an environmental report carried out on behalf of the Island Council. Although the publication by the firm, Duna Baleares, made a series of suggestions in order to improve the noise pollution and traffic problems the centre is likely to bring to the area, the overall feeling was that the positives would far outweigh the negatives.
The report said the additional medical service the centre is likely to provide would create greater variation on the island and an increase in the number of specialists, providing the necessary competition to the only other private health clinic on the island, Nuestra Senora del Rosario. The centre would also create 100 new jobs.
However, the report suggested making changes to the road layout in the area and claimed the new road planned from avenida Vuit dAgost through to carretera de Cap Martinet close to sEstanyol would help ease the traffic problems. They also said that an improved bus service to the area would also help alleviate traffic congestion, and encourage people to leave their cars at home.
The centre, which is the brainchild of Juan Tur Vinas but has over 200 backers, will take around 24 months to complete at a cost of just over 20 million. The clinic will be on two floors and have a reduced environmental effect as it is being built next to a residential area. In addition to a medical clinic, there will also be a small residential home next to the clinic.

FORMENTERA
Formentera Work
The councillor in charge of infrastructure on the island, Bartolo Ferrer, announced on Tuesday that three streets in the old city would be pedestrianised this winter. The Councillors long term plan is to pave all of old part of San Francesc; however for the moment just avenida Porto-Sale, the final part of calle Santa Maria and calle Ramon Llull will be affected. It is hoped the work can be contracted-out in September, to begin the following month. The total cost of the work, which is being covered mostly by the Island Council, will be 715,936.

CRIME & INCIDENTS
Cyclist Dies
A British couple were being questioned by Guardia Civil officers after the 72 year old French cyclist, knocked down in the capital two weeks ago, died in hospital from his injuries. The incident occurred on 6th August at around 8.30 p.m. close to the tile shop, Suministros Ibiza, on avenida de Sant Joan. The victim, who was a regular visitor to the island, was hit by a black Volkswagon Golf with a British registration number, which then raced away from the scene without stopping to help the man.
Despite fighting to save the victims life for five days, staff at Can Misses admitted his injuries were critical and that nothing could be done.
Police immediately issued a description of the car to all of the forces on the island, as well as the Port Authorities, and the Santa Eulalia force soon located the vehicle in a side street in Santa Gertrudis. The driver was a 46 year old woman, who at the time was accompanied by a 35 year old British man. They both went voluntarily to the police station, but after refusing to give a statement, were released on bail and will now have to give their account of events in court, where they will face charges of manslaughter and refusing to offer help to the injured cyclist.

Bribery Claims
The Balearic Government was bracing itself as yet another political scandal broke last week. It emerged, on Monday, that six people had been arrested over the course of last weekend as the anti-corruption police began an investigation into the possible payment of bribes to ministers.
The case centres around the activity of the Turisme Jove department during the presidency of PP-party leader, Jaime Matas, from 2003-2007. Although no official figure has yet been given, it is believed the junior ministers could have scammed up to 500,000.
The people who were initially arrested were the ex-director of services and installations, Juan Francisco Gonsálbez, his wife, María Auxiliadora Pérez, the number two of the PP in Algaida, Damia Amengualand their accountant, Jaume Cerdá. The 5th person arrested is Marcos Pérez Martínez, a builder on the island, whilst the identity of the 6th was not yet known, although he was said to be the co-owner of a travel agentcy in Mallorca.
The scam involved the ministers giving public work to the detained builder, which had not gone through the normal public tender system, as it should have done. The builder would then carry out the work and then present inflated invoices which were shared between the ministers and himself. It is believed the same was done with the bills of the travel agency, where flights were charged which had not been taken, and inflated expenses were passed through the system. Both the constructor and the owner of the travel agency admitted the charges. Both were released on bail whilst the investigation continues. However, Gosalbez, his wife and Amengual were all being held in prison, and if found guilty could face jail terms of up to eight years, the former not helping his case by refusing to testify.
The vice-president of the PP party in the Balearics, Antoni Pastor, apologised to the electorate as he announced Gosalbez had been expelled from the party. He said an internal investigation would be undertaken into catastrophic mistakes made during the last administration.

Boy Dies
Tragedy struck the tiny island of Formentera last week as a nine year old boy died after accidentally getting trapped in the boot of a car. The family had been holidaying on the island with friends at a house which had only recently been purchased. The child, who suffered from Downs Syndrome, was playing with his two brothers when he accidentally locked himself in the boot of his mothers Toyota Corolla, which was parked at the rear of the property. His brothers did not notice him slipping into the car, and continued playing.
The children were in the care of a friend of the family at the time, as the mother was out shopping. On returning she noticed one of her children was missing. This began a two-hour search, involving the police, which ended with the body being discovered in the back of the vehicle by the childs mother. The resulting autopsy revealed the child had died from heart failure.
His distraught parents sent an emotive letter to the Diario de Ibiza and Ultima Hora newspapers over the weekend thanking their son for nine magical years and explaining how his beautiful smile had lit up the life of everyone he had known. They explained that they had sent the letter as they did not want their son to be remembered as just the Downs Syndrome boy who had died in Formentera.

House Fire
A police investigation has begun into a fire in a property on avenida San Agustin, in Cala de Bou. Moments before the blaze erupted, a couple could be heard arguing. During the discussion one of the party threatened to burn the house down; moments later smoke could be seen coming from the house. Four crews were soon on the scene and were able to extinguish the flames quickly, although they said the 30 m2 house had been severely affected by the blaze which began in one of the bedrooms.
There was no-one at the property when police arrived, and it is thought the couple heard arguing had been staying illegally at the house. The windows of the bedroom where the fire began had been smashed, leading investigators to believe the couple had broken the windows in order to escape.
This was followed on Sunday by a blaze in the dunes close to the hotel Bahamas in Playa den Bossa at around 5 p.m. Although the fire caused concern amongst the many tourists in the area, no-one needed to be evacuated and it was soon brought under control by fire crews, however not before destroying around 1,000 m2 of grassland.

Busy Night
The high winds on Thursday night brought havoc to the coastal waters across the island, with a total of twelve people having to be rescued. A warning was sent out by the Marine Rescue service on the island as the wind began to pick up at around 10 p.m. on Thursday night.
Three of the crew of the boat, Cornucopia, had to be rescued after their boat sank in Formentera. All jumped into the water and were immediately hauled aboard the Markab, the Marine Rescue boat which has a permanent base on the island. An attempt to refloat the boat was made, but failed.
At the beach of Migjorn, boats Sara and Micaela de Moro both beached as the northerly wind continued through the night. All of the occupants were rescued, before a private company refloated both of the vessels. The same occurred with the boat Turavia, in Punta Pedrera, Formentera, which, again, was refloated the following morning.
The catamaran Born Free also beached on ses Salinas, whilst a K-9 catamaran had to be rescued after beaching in es Puet, San Antonio.

Road Accident
Three people had to be cut from their cars in the early hours of Tuesday morning after a head-on collision between two 4x4 vehicles. The accident occurred on the notorious Cami Vell road close to San Mateu. Although the investigation was continuing police believe one of the cars invaded the other vehicles lane, causing the accident.
Both the Nissan Patrol, driven by a 24 year old Spaniard, and the Mitsubishi, in which there were two occupants, were severely damaged in the collision. So much so that the fire brigade had to be called, to ensure all three could be attended by the emergency services. All three were taken to Can Misses, two of them in what was described as a serious condition.
Not so serious, but no less spectacular, was the accident suffered by a truck carrying crates of beer on the Ibiza-San Jose road. Just before the es Frigolar turning and at km15, the truck, for reasons which are still not known, lost the better part of its load, leaving smashed beer bottles strewn all over the road. Thankfully, there were no injuries to report, although the accident led to severe queues for several hours.
This was followed on Saturday by an accident on the San Antonio-Ibiza road in which a van, owned by Aves Chico food distributers, overturned. However, due to the quick action of a truck driver who was following close behind, the incident did not escalate into anything more serious. Whilst the slightly injured driver inside the overturned van managed to escape via a window, the truck driver doused the flames which had started as a result of the accident, using a fire extinguisher he had been carrying in the truck.
On the same day a 25 year old Colombian woman was in a critical condition after being knocked off her moped in avenida Espana, in Ibiza Town. The exact details of the incident are still not known, but the force of the impact was so great that the Danish-registered car involved in the collision lost its front left wheel. The woman was rushed to the Vilas private clinic, where she remains in a coma.editor@theibizasun.com

FINANCIAL NEWS
Cost of Living Rises
Spain's inflation rate continued to accelerate in July, with consumer prices up at an annual rate of 5.3 per cent, the highest level during the last 16 years. Consumer prices have soared across the euro zone in recent months because of rising oil and food prices. The effect has been especially acute in Spain because food carries a greater weight in the country's consumer price index-basket, and because Spain has a greater reliance on oil imports.
The dramatic rise meant a shortened summer break for Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who interrupted his holidays for a meeting with economy minister, Pedro Solbes, and other cabinet members after which he announced a 20bn stimulus plan to tackle the cooling economy. The plan includes a 20m package to help families access mortgage finance.
Although Spanish inflation is above the eurozone average of 4.1%, Solbes said the rate of inflation could drop to about 4% by the end of the year, as oil prices start their decline.
The news came as it was revealed the non-payment of debts, including mortgage repayments, had risen by 118 per cent over the last year. Debt had also risen sharply to 945,700 million.

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