Not long ago the authorities of Fujikawaguchiko, a popular tourist destination located southwest of Tokyo, took A radical decision: tired of seeing how visitors They appealed in one of its most popular viewpoints to get selfies With Mount Fuji in the background, hindering traffic and dirtying the street, they chose to install a large fence that covered the Fuji. Over view, it was a problem.
Between Fujikawaguchiko and Ibiza there are about 10,600 km, but the Balearic island has been found in a similar problem: the enormous popularity of its most iconic viewpoint among tourists has led the owners of the land to take action. They have not managed to install an XXL screen to cover the views as in Japan, but They have managed to limit the intense flow of visitors and vehicles.
A name: is Vedrà. What Ibiza is A popular destination Among tourists is no novelty. Only last year they visited the whole of the Pitiusas more than 3.6 million of people. Within the island, however, there are specially busy points, such as “The Mirador de Es Vedrà”, a set of Cap Blanc plots and is Savinar, that have become greatly famous for their paradisiacal views.
Tourists visit him in mass, attracted by the photos they see in networks or even in promotional videos of the Balearic Islands. And that translates, remember Nou Diariin a chaos of cars, garbage, feces, picnics and even commercial activities ranging from the sale of drinks to DJ performances or even wedding celebration. The problem is that plots have two peculiarities. One, they are protected. Two are private. And its owner are fed up after years of tourist avalanche.
And what have they done? Take action. Throughout the last weeks The press regional realizes How the owners of the lots, tired of the avalanche of tourists and their effects, have decided to cut for the healthy. And that translates into blocking access to private lands that were being used as parking with large rocks and veto the passage of visitors to the viewpoint and the Torre des Savinaranother popular destination among visitors.
It is not just that they can no longer park in the area. Access to the esplanade is not allowed in which thousands of tourists are looking for the Selfie Dream, no matter if they do it in their private cars or move in a taxi.
“The neighbors are a little fed up”. The result is The closure of access to the main parking lot of Cala d´hort with permission from the City Council and Access on foot In S´era Des Mateart, the most crowded viewpoint during the sunsets. “Of course, the neighbors are a little fed up that their property is being used in a way, I would say, a little wild,” Explain to Ibiza Diario Mayor Vicent Roig, who also recognizes that given the “deterioration” of the tower DESAVINAR and other spaces was “necessary to stop the access volume.”
“It has become a greater evil “. One of the neighbors was even more overwhelming when telling Nou Diari How the area has reached its current state. “A property asked the City Council to legalize the land as parking, but it has not been granted and closed, while the rest have tired of allowing it,” regrets. “It was about preventing people from parking on the road as a minor evil, but it has become a greater evil because now it appears not only in parking lots, but also on the road.”
There is no lack of criticism Nor to the advertising that the viewpoint has been given, not only in networks, where it has starred Some viral videobut on the part of the agents that have been responsible for promoting Ibiza at national and international tourism and international shop windows in the sector.
“It should never have become the farm of the photo”, Underline at eldiario.es An owner before remembering that the situation is not new. “We have been denouncing the Consell, City Council, Government and Civil Guard.”
And now what? That is the question that remains by driving. What to do with the flow of tourists looking for the Selfie Or the dump photo that have seen thousands of times in networks? Roig admits that in the face of summer he wants to find “a solution”, at least provisional. The idea is to “reduce pressure”, for which hand is working with natural spaces. The challenge is not simple: after “broken” the barrier that prevents the passage of cars towards S´ra des Maraet, the City Council has had to reinforce it.
About the table is The possibility to open a regulated and payment parking. The local press too pointsThe idea of setting an area as a “official” viewpoint, near the beach and with services such as bathrooms. “We will try to regulate the flows, which is our mission as a town hall,” Roig progress: “You have to have very clear the limits of how far you can go and we work to distribute these flows.”
Images | David Holderbach (Flickr) and Jordi NLL (Flickr)
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