It’s no small affair. In the 1960s, Spain was transformed into one of Europe’s leading tourist destinations. Visitors who might otherwise have travelled and done their sightseeing in their own country, were attracted to the region by the promise of sun, sea, and sand. As the tourist industry of the “Costas” and the “Balearics” evolved, the hordes of visitors sparked the growth of a vibrant nightlife industry, especially on the island of Ibiza, anything but a saddening bore. While the beach and the Mediterranean Sea were the usual daytime haunt of countless tourists, bars and nightclubs became their nocturnal destination.
Research in the International Journal of Tourism Anthropology has looked at how Ibiza’s nightclubs evolved through advertising, revealing the preferences and behaviour of the tourists who flocked to this “holiday island”.
Joan Carles Cirer-Costa of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya in Eivissa, Spain explains that the influx of post-war European tourists to Spain began in the early 1950s as society bounced back into the sunshine from darker days. These early adventurers navigated a challenging transportation landscape, often travelling by personal car or early charter flights to reach their destinations. By the mid-1960s, mass tourism had firmly established itself, driven by this collective yearning for sun, sea, and sand and the creation of the package holiday. Mediterranean tourism continues to grow to this day.
The evolution of the nightlife of Ibiza over the decades all but eschewed local culture. Indeed, cultural authenticity was not generally what the hedonistic tourists sought. Nevertheless, it was the early tourists that have guided us to the modern Mediterranean holiday format and as more and more Europeans recognised their own desire for this summer experience, so the tourist industry has pandered to their whims.
Cirer-Costa’s work could also have implications beyond historical curiosity. It offers those studying modern tourism lessons in the dynamics of the industry. It might help contemporary tourism professionals and policymakers create more sustainable and appealing tourist experiences that balance leisure with cultural appreciation from Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads.
Cirer-Costa, J.C (2024) ‘Sun, beach … and nightclubs: a study on the nightlife and tourism in Ibiza (1950–1971)’, Int. J. Tourism Anthropology, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp.218–236.