The Perception of the Effect of Tourism on the Local Community before the Ibiza Smart Island Project

Abstract

The perceptions that residents had towards aspects linked to tourism development on the island of Ibiza is measured. In 2011 fieldwork which asked the extent of agreement with several statements was carried out. A descriptive analysis was carried out on the data obtained to determine the average valuation on various items and cross tabulations to see if there are differences between the five municipalities of the island. The results show that there is a high valuation of the economic benefits and tourism is considered to be very important, but they are half-hearted or critical towards the rest of the impacts. In addition, there are no significant differences between the five municipalities. Ibiza is a single tourist destination and works as one single social unit. In 2015 the Ibiza Smart Island project was launched, with smart city and smart destination elements, to solve the problems that affect residents and tourists.