Rejection towards any prospective oil drilling in the Balearic waters was palpable at the II Tourist Forum in Ibiza today. The forum aims, among other things, to evaluate the past season and to analyse the role of the public administration in the tourist promotion.The Mayor of Santa Eulària des Riu, Vicent Mari, emphasised in his inaugural speech how the future of Ibiza as a tourist destination depends on stopping the oil prospections."The environmental values are very important when attracting visitors, which leaves us no other option than to say very clearly "no" to the prospections", stated Marí in his opening speech at the forum, which takes places at the Congress Palace of Ibiza, informed the Town Hall of Santa Eulària.
Marí emphasized also the need to convince the tourists that "they can have unique and unrepeatable experiences here", and underlined that Ibiza, as a tourist brand, should not compete "in quantity, but in quality".
The island councillor of Tourism, Carmen Ferrer, used a similar line of argument when she assured that "activities that are not environmentally sustainable, constitute a danger for the island", and warned that threats like the prospective oil drilling and bad every-day practices spoil the environment on the island.
The president of the ferry terminal, Antoni Guasch, mentioned additionally the need to "join forces" for marketing purposes, and encouraged "the companies and all sectors related to services to join in cooperations like ours".
The programme of the II Tourist Forum of Ibiza continued with a chat by the artist David Calláis Gené, about the Mediterranean as a source of inspiration, and a short intervention by the soprano Olena Panasyuk. Cállais had also prepared an exhibition of his work, inspired by the sea, in the different rooms of the Congress Palace.In continuation, Juanjo Serra talked about his adventure of swimming across from Denia to Ibiza, and about lessons that can be applied both in private companies as well as in the public sector.
After that the forum concentrated on the theme of environment and its relation to tourism in the Mediterranean, with talks by the biologist Marisol Torres about the posidonia; Paulo Peixoto about the island as a diving destination; professor Gabriel Moyá about the studies of micro-algae on the certified beaches of Santa Eulària des Riu and environmental consultant Marta Pascual about the climate change and the contents of some workshops related to carbon-neutral tourist businesses, which will take place from Monday to Wednesday next week in the Yacht Club of Santa Eulália.Afterwards, the general secretary of the Spanish Nautical Trade Association, Carlos Sanlorenzo, talked about the challenges of the sector, and closed the morning with a round table discussion with Antoni Torres (Insotel and president of the Association of Travel Agents of ibiza), Pepe Costa (Association of Professional Tourist Guides of Ibiza and Formentera), Toni Boix (Mundo Senior- World of Seniors), Alejandro Sancho (Invisa) and Daniel Gómez (Palladium).
In the afternoon a speech by Alberto Pons is expected. He is the current president of the Balearic Port Authority, but this time he will speak from his perspective as the ex director of Real Club Náutico de Palma, the organiser of the Kings Cup, about how a sports event can change a city.In continuation Karim Bulaix, the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Ceuta will talk about the tourist aspects of the region, and the forum will be closed with a round table discussion between the town councillors of tourism from the island.
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