14/09/2013 00:00
TW
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STAFF REPORTER

IBIZA
A NATIONWIDE campaign is being launched to promote Ibiza as a holiday destination amongst Spain's key client markets of Germany, Great Britain and Italy.

An agreement was signed yesterday to the tune of 450'000 euros by the Secretary of State for Tourism, Joan Mesquida - a native Majorcan - along with the Balearic minister for Tourism and president of the Balearic Institute for Tourism (Ibatur), Francesc Buils. They were joined for the event by the head of Ibiza's Island Council and Tourist Promotion Foundation, Xicu Tarres. The funding will allow an energetic marketing drive to take place during the last fortnight of September and the first two weeks in October aimed at encouraging holiday-makers in Germany, Great Britain and Italy to choose Ibiza as their destination.

Mesquida said yesterday that 85 percent of the budget would go to written publicity with an emphasis on the accessibility of Ibiza from regional airports. The remaining 15 percent - some 70'000 euros - would be used to front on-line promotion. Germany has been allocated a budget of 180'000 euros. Advertising on Ibiza will be inserted in the regional publications of the daily “Bild” newspaper and in local papers in Cologne, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Munich, Stuttgart and Berlin. The campaign targeting Great Britain will be funded with 150'000 euros with Ibiza publicity being circulated in Scottish daily newspapers as well as those in Liverpool and Manchester. Similar marketing techniques will be applied in Italy with 120'000 euros backing the campaign. Targeted there will be daily papers circulating in Milan, Turin, Bologna, Bergamo and Padua.

Mesquida explained that 92 percent of visitors to Ibiza come from European countries, and of this figure 70 percent originates in Germany, Great Britain and Italy. He added that the campaign aims to consolidate and reinforce other publicity drives which have taken place throughout the year and is looking to “boost the image of Ibiza during what remains of 2008”. Responding to questions on how the current economic squeeze will effect the tourist market in Europe, Mesquida said that the tourist industry is capable of proving itself resilient to the crisis and suggested that the sector needs to “create an opportunity out of a problem.”