Ibiza ambulance services are strained by tourists’ drug and alcohol emergencies

The popular Spanish island of Ibiza has had a longstanding reputation as a party hotspot for tourists — but those partying too hard are straining local health resources.

A quarter of the ambulance emergencies are linked to large leisure centers, Spanish publication elDiaro.es reported. 

The Works Council of the Union of Healthcare Technicians (WCUHT) told the outlet most of the calls are due to drugs or alcohol incidents at clubs involving foreign tourists — leaving ambulance technicians strained. 

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“The situation is entrenched because the population increases, leisure centers increase, and instead of moving forward we go backward,” said union president José Manuel Maroto.

In 2024, about 3.28 million people visited Ibiza, while there were 3.38 visitors the year prior, according to the Ibiza Preservation.

Foreign tourists who are partying at Ibiza’s leisure centers are straining local healthcare resources. (iStock)

“Serving tourists from nightclubs saturates the service and harms other emergencies on the island, which have to endure delays in ambulances,” said Maroto.

A European Psychiatry study published by Cambridge University Press analyzed drug-related fatalities in Ibiza from 2010 to 2016.

“The situation is entrenched because the population increases.” (iStock)

The study found that MDMA and cocaine were the most commonly used substances, with the number of fatalities per year “steadily increasing.”

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Party promoter Wayne Anthony told Sky News last year he does not think the drug problem in Ibiza will be stopped. 

“Serving tourists from nightclubs saturates the service and harms other emergencies on the island, which have to endure delays in ambulances.” (iStock)

“When you have these movements that are driven by music, that are driven by art, that are driven by fashion and drugs are a part of it, whatever you put up, whatever boundaries, whatever laws, I don’t think you’re going to be able to stop it,” said Wayne.

He arrived on the island in 1988, noting that “what Ibiza represented was this beautiful, hot island, which was visually stunning and we knew you could party there quite legally.”

Ambulance technicians are calling for clubs to hire private emergency services. (iStock)

The Center for Public Health researchers at Liverpool John Moores University published a 2014 study on the behavior of young British tourists between the ages of 16 and 35. 

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Of those surveyed, 85.3% reported using illicit drugs — while 54.1% smoked tobacco.

The WCUHT is calling for clubs to work with their own private ambulance services. 

In 2024, about 3.28 million people visited the popular Spanish island of Ibiza. (iStock)

“Clubs are obliged to have a health service with nurses and even emergency technicians, but they are not forced to hire an ambulance service, and this ends up becoming a public system,” said Maroto.

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He added, “We all pay for ambulances to these companies that make billions. It is unaffordable.”