Introduction

Ibiza represents one of the Mediterranean’s most iconic tourism destinations, renowned not only for its beaches and nightlife but also for its rich cultural and natural heritage. The island has historically faced significant challenges related to overtourism, a phenomenon intensified by high concentrations of day visitors and mass seasonal tourism. In response to these challenges, the Tourist Intelligence System of Eivissa (SIT Eivissa) was established in February 2024 through collaboration between the Consell d’Eivissa and FECOEV S.A.U (Ferias, Congresos y Eventos de Ibiza). This system represents an integrated, data-driven approach combining public and private sector cooperation to achieve more sustainable, balanced, and informed tourism management.

The present study analyzes the organizational structure, implemented solutions, achieved results, and broader implications of the SIT Eivissa strategy, providing insights into how this model might be replicated in other destinations facing similar overcrowding and seasonal pressure challenges.

Background and Context

Ibiza, located east of the Iberian Peninsula, covers 572 km² and forms part of the Pitiuse archipelago alongside Formentera. The resident population exceeds 140,000 inhabitants but increases dramatically during summer months due to tourist influx. The island comprises five main municipalities: Ibiza (capital), Santa Eulària des Riu, Sant Josep de Sa Talaia, Sant Antoni de Portmany, and Sant Joan de Labritja, each contributing distinct tourism characteristics that enhance the island’s diverse offerings.

Tourism on the island demonstrates high spatial and temporal concentration patterns. Most visitors arrive between June and September, creating significant pressure on urban infrastructure, roads, beaches, and natural environments. Congestion phenomena, combined with increasing internationalization of demand, necessitated a data-based approach to monitor and regulate tourism flows effectively.

Strategic Response and Governance Approach

The SIT Eivissa emerged from the tourism sector’s need for reliable, updated data to understand visitor behaviors and support strategic decision-making.

The system aggregates information from multiple sources: mobile positioning data from a private Telcom provider; private sector data from airlines, accommodation facilities, and credit card providers; public databases covering arrivals, departures, and stay durations; interviews and surveys targeting tourists and residents; and social media sentiment analysis.

The organization functions as a central hub for data collection, processing, and interpretation, supporting island-level tourism policy decisions and providing predictive tools for tourism demand management, with particular attention to seasonal peaks.

By integrating diverse data streams, the system obtains comprehensive tourism flow insights, including tourist profiling (numbers, nationalities, return rates, travel companions), accommodation, mobility patterns, transportation modes, spending and consumption behaviors, attraction preferences and visit frequencies, benchmarking against other Mediterranean destinations, sentiment analysis from social networks, and tourism calendar data covering major holidays in the ten most relevant origin markets, airline route opening periods, and hotel price variations.

The data gathered is organized using a data lake, with analytical tools like Power BI enabling information cross-referencing to generate detailed insights supporting strategic decisions.

Data-enabled Solutions

The diversity of data sources and the accuracy of the analyses have already made it possible to implement several measures to reduce the congestion of vehicles and people.

Vehicle Limitations

One primary congestion factor on the island involved excessive numbers of private and rental vehicles during high season. For summer 2025, the local administration introduced a maximum limit of 20,168 non-resident vehicles, comprising 16,000 rental cars and 4,168 tourist-owned vehicles.

Following implementation, results indicate 32,185 fewer cars on the island between June 1^st and September 30^th, 2025 compared to the previous year. This measure aims to reduce road pressure, improve safety, and contain environmental impact by limiting traffic, emissions, and congestion at critical points. In practice, it is implemented through controls at main island access points and online reservation systems for rental vehicles, promoting more homogeneous daily flow distribution.

Accommodation Regulation

A significant portion of tourism pressure derived from irregular accommodation offerings. Through collaboration with platforms like Airbnb, SIT Eivissa identified and removed approximately 12,000 illegal beds, improving overall offering quality and ensuring greater transparency in the tourism real estate market by enhancing the balance between tourism demand and the island’s actual capacity.

Additional Measures to be Implemented

In addition to these measures, other innovative tools are currently under consideration, such as integrating anti-congestion features into the Ibiza Smart Island app, designed for both tourists and residents. The goal is to provide app users with real-time information on crowd levels at the places they plan to visit or search for (e.g., beaches). Users would receive in-app notifications when a location is already crowded, with suggestions on alternative itineraries.

Beyond the app, solutions like intelligent traffic lights and smart signage are being explored; these systems respond dynamically to real-time congestion data to alleviate bottlenecks, enhance public safety, and improve overall transport efficiency on the island. Meanwhile, sitevissa.com is expected to be opened to the public within the next few weeks, with full operational functionality anticipated by the end of the year.

Challenges and Limitations

The implementation of these additional measures depends critically on the availability of real-time mobile positioning data. Currently, such data is provided by a private operator with a few days’ delay, and reducing the gap between data collection and public sharing represents a costly yet essential effort.

In the same manner, the complexity of data integration poses a significant challenge, as effective operation relies on high-quality, timely data from multiple sources. For all these reasons, to fully unlock the potential of integrating public and private data, it is essential to strengthen collaboration continuously. Stakeholder collaboration is essential but demanding, involving sustained engagement among municipalities, private operators, accommodation platforms, and tourism services to align interests.

Additionally, enforcement and compliance issues arise, necessitating robust monitoring mechanisms to effectively regulate vehicle limits and accommodation rules and prevent circumvention.

The shared goal among all operators must be to create a sustainable tourism ecosystem not only in the short term, but also in the medium and long term. The purpose of these collaborations should extend beyond economic returns, fostering a holistic approach to sustainability that everyone commits to supporting.

Conclusion

Ibiza’s experience demonstrates how integrated, data-driven approaches can effectively address overtourism in high-pressure seasonal destinations. The implemented strategies demonstrate measurable positive outcomes across multiple dimensions: improved traffic and mobility management through vehicle limitations that significantly reduced road congestion during peak periods, with digital reservation systems enabling more controlled and distributed access patterns throughout the day.

These measures not only improve island livability for residents and visitors but also promote more qualified, sustainable, and responsible tourism practices. The Ibiza experience offers a replicable model for other Mediterranean destinations facing similar challenges, demonstrating the importance of integrating technological tools, collaborative governance, and targeted regulations to promote balance between tourism attractiveness and local quality of life.

The success of SIT Eivissa highlights the potential for data intelligence systems to transform tourism management from reactive crisis response to proactive sustainable development, providing a pathway for destinations seeking to maintain their appeal while preserving their environmental and social foundations.

Methodology and References

This case study employs a mixed-methods approach, combining desk analysis of official and scientific documentation with qualitative data gathered via interviews.

On one hand, an in-depth review of secondary sources was conducted, including:

• Ibiza Travel. Ibiza Official Tourism Website. https://ibiza.travel/en/
• Ibiza Travel. (2024). Strategic projects, the stars of the Promotional Action Plan for 2025. https://ibiza.travel/en/2024/12/strategic-projects-the-stars-of-the-promotional-action-plan-for-2025/

On the other hand, a 35-minute interview was carried out on 12 September with Simon Tur, coordinator of the Tourism Intelligence System.

The interview protocol was structured as a semi-structured grid composed of thematic macro-areas and guiding questions but applied with an open, adaptable approach to allow for spontaneous responses and relevant digressions. Interviews were recorded with informed consent. Full transcriptions were analyzed using thematic analysis to identify recurring themes, divergences, and emerging categories.

Operazione cofinanziata dall’Unione Europea, Fondo Europeo di Sviluppo Regionale, dallo Stato italiano, Fondo di Rotazione, dalla Confederazione elvetica e dai Cantoni nell’ambito del Programma di Cooperazione Interreg VI-A Italia-Svizzera