
Yachts on the sea and tourists on the sand crowd Ibiza's tiny S'Illot des Renclí cove in Spain on July 23, 2025.
Photographer: Maria Contreras Coll/BloombergHotter Summers and Overcrowding Threaten Europe’s Tourist Economies
Overtourism and climate change have created a dangerous feedback loop that endangers Southern Europe’s tourism industry
The Montesol is Ibiza’s oldest hotel. Built in 1933, it’s a neoclassical monolith on a leafy boulevard between the port and the old town of the Spanish island’s capital city. For the last three-quarters of a century, the hotel has hosted generations of Hollywood elite and giants of the music business, while outside Ibiza was transformed from a laid-back haven for 1950s beatniks and bohemians into a Fantasia of mega-clubs, neon lights, giant LED screens and thumping electronic music.
When the French luxury hoteliers Experimental Group took over the property in 2021, they undertook a refurbishment that reflects a new and challenging reality for Ibiza’s tourist industry.