The Valencian Community has a single inhabited island. And when summer comes tourism is the slightest of its problems

Tabarca is a special island for many reasons. By its sizejust 1,800 meters long, a few hundred meters wide and an area of 0.3 km2. For its condition of Only inhabited island from the Valencian Community, although its census barely goes from half a hundred of neighbors. And for the particular situation that lives in the tourist stage of the Costa Blanca. Although in summer Tabarca receives thousands of visitors a day, its main problem with tourism is not the massification but The deficiencies suffering from the archipelago and worsens with the arrival of heat.

Tabarca is a unique island. And not always for good.

In a place in Alicante … Tabarca is a small island on the Alicante coast, located scarce Eight kilometers from the port of Santa Pola. And the “little” is more than justified. The island is around 0.3 km2 and the entire archipelago barely passes from 1,800 m long and 400 wide, which can travel from top to bottom in A small walk.

Its size and their population, of just over fifty people (According to the INE There are 34 men and 25 women censored there) they make it an exceptional case. It often presents itself as The only one Populated Island of the Valencian Community and The smallest of the country with permanent population. Its location, beaches and landscapes also make it something else: a busy destination in summer.

A figure: 10,000. One thing is the autumn tabarca, winter and the principle of spring and a very different summer tabarca. When the heat arrives, the island becomes a defendant destination. Both in fact that the transfer of bathers and families multiplies exponentially. Some estimates talk that in summer peak days exceed 5,000 visitors. Others raise it to 10,000. It is good for one or another figure, in October that translates into a tourist pressure that far exceeds its register.

The figures handled by the local press do not always coincide, but are equally blunt. Some estimates point to more than 150,000 visitors during the summer months or even 230,000 Throughout the year. The influx of tourists also concentrates on a Very concrete season: The drip begins towards Holy Week, with the arrival of retirees of the Imserso, continues among the ends of spring and the beginning of summer with the schoolchildren and intensifies in the warmest months with visitors attracted by the beaches.

Is it a problem? The tide of tourists has sneaked into the public debate of Alicante, with Voices in favor to control access to the island and apply “limits to the number of visitors” daily, a measure that already applies in other parts of the country, such as in the CIES, in Galicia. At least a year ago the Almeria City Council It was not shown However, too supportive of afor and restrictions. Others bet on DestationalizeThe demand for the bulk of tourism not to concentrate in the summer months.

“The island needs a more balanced approach that considers not only beach tourism, but also ecotourism and cultural tourism, which can help distribute the load of visitors more uniformly during the year,” he said In 2024 Alejandro Triviño, from the University of Alicante, to Information. In his favor Tabarca has more than beaches. It is considered Marine reserve Since 1986 and enjoys an interesting story that links it to Berber pirates and Genoese fishermenin addition to A rich heritage which includes The wall or the Church of San Pedro and San Pablo.

Something more than massification. However, the big problem of Tabarca is not the massive influx of visitors, but how they arrive and what they are once land. I explained it yesterday The country in An article Remember that the main challenge of the island in tourism is the deficiencies that it drags, a few deficiencies is that they become even more visible when the heat comes. “The problem is not tourists,” Recognize to the Diario Carmen Martí, president of the neighborhood association. “We need a comprehensive plan that condition the island for inhabitants and visitors.”

The reason? In summer Tabarca receives a tide of travelers willing to spend the day on their coasts, but unlike what happens in other Arenales of Alicante, on the island –Martí complaint– They do not have some basic services. “Public toilets, shadow areas, tourist attractions such as the church or the vaults of the wall are closed, the tower is in ruins …” insists The neighborhood leader before adding one more task to the list: regulate displacements and a public transport service.

“How 40 years ago”. Martí is not the only one who thinks like that. The owner of one of the island’s restaurants Recognize to The country That Tabarca has gone from being a small community that basically lived from fishing to a hyper tourist destination, but that transformation has not come accompanied by changes that make it more assumed for the locals. “Many people come and we are like 40 years ago,” Reflect. “We need a larger port, to separate the tourist from goods ships and more cultural activity so that the visit is not only sun and beach.”

The list of resident requests is wide. They talk about transport, pricing disparity with which visitors are and the cost assumed by those who work on the island, of public services as basic as medical assistance or public spaces (picnic or even shadow areas) in which visitors can protect themselves during the warmer afternoons of the summer.

Is it something new? No. It comes a quick search to verify that the complaints of the neighbors are not new. A year ago, during An interview In Onda Cero, Martín explained that the Island supports a tourist pressure similar to that of “any tourist area of ​​the Peninsula”. “The problem is that it is not prepared to welcome with guarantees the numerous visitors who agglomerate mainly during the months of July and August,” warns the representative of the neighbors, who regrets that “the impression that the visitor takes is that of a beautiful island, but with many deficiencies.”

Throughout the last months there have also been some deficiencies of the archipelago. A few weeks ago for example the chain being He warned That, at the doors of summer, visitors found that neither umbrellas nor hammocks nor bathrooms of bathing. The most serious warning came however in September 2024when it transpired that Tabarca lacked a doctor in summer despite the fact that thousands of tourists landed there.

Images | Jose A. (Flickr), Les Haines (Flickr) and Wikipedia

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