September 24th was the day when the rain finally fell after the long hot Ibiza summer. It wasn’t as dramatic as the usual’Gota Fria’, (we’ve still got that to come!), but it cooled everything down at last to a comfortable 24 degrees. As I write it’s 20 degrees at midnight and I’m wearing jeans…

The locals are happy, buying each other drinks and celebrating the arrival of the showers that bring the island nature back to life. The next three months are our Spring time after the desertification of Summer.

The fresh arrivals are cursing themselves for bringing the northern European weather with them, but were all sat enjoying the sunset under clear evening skies before diving into the local pubs to watch the English footy, whilst their wives moaned about a day on the beach lost to the weather.

The local bars owners are loving it…

One thing you can be sure about here is that the rain will stop soon, at which point a still hot sun will break out and dry the sand in just a few minutes – meantime the sea remains the temperature of a lukewarm bath…

If only everybody out there knew about the beauty of Ibiza in the winter… but, then again maybe not, we’re a very lucky and possessive lot trying to keep it secret by telling everyone the island’s shut – when it’s not…

The great and good of the British community were out in force at the inauguration of the newly renovated British Consulate in mid-September, accompanied by a selection of island dignitaries including the President of the Island Council, Xico Tarrés.

The Consul still occupies the first floor of Avenida Isidoro Macabich 45 in Eivissa town, but has been dramatically upgraded to “a modern office that sets a standard for Consular offices throughout the world.”

The inauguration was hosted by our long-serving Consul, Helen Watson, who was accompanied by Denise Holt, the British Ambassador to Spain. Denise made Ibiza her first port of call upon her appointment as Britain’s Ambassador last year.

However, the political celebrity afforded the privilege of unveiling the commemorative plaque was the Secretary of State for Consular Affairs, Ministry of Foreign and Commonwealth Office – Mrs Meg Munn.
Mrs Munn is the Minister in charge of all of the British Consular offices around the world, and was quick to point out that Ibiza is one of her busiest Consular offices as 750,000 Brits visit Ibiza each year (26% of all Spanish visitors).

This was her first visit and proved to be a typical tourist experience. Her flight was delayed for four hours, finally arriving at 1:30 am. However, displaying true British grit she went from the airport to the West End and from there to Amnesia. Whilst pointing out that this was not the normal work of a British parliamentary Minister, she confessed that she was very pleased to have been the one to be given the brief, which she described as being “a first hand verification of the Consular service being provided to British citizens”.

Despite the unseemly hour, she still found the time to discuss with the Mayor and the police ways to make the island safer for young British tourists to ensure that the island remains a premier tourist option for the Brits.

At the inauguration the next morning, clutching a glass of champagne in front of a largely Spanish press presence, she fielded a variety of leading questions by pointing out that in the UK young people are given a number of important messages before they set off on their holidays through a scheme called “Know before you go”. This advises youngsters to stay within their limits, look out for their friends and to watch what they’re drinking.

She also pointed out that the over 55 age group also get into difficulties when, after a few drinks, they try and do things that are more adventurous than they would attempt at home. She also pointed out that in the course of the previous evening the police had advised her that the young British visitors were not as badly behaved as some other nationalities…

In summary, it’s not just young people and not just Ibiza!

Xico Tarrés was magnanimous in his response, first pointing out how much it means to both visitors and residents to see the British government making such an investment in Ibiza. It’s also an important message to the people of Ibiza, as witnessed by their impressive press presence.

He went on to remind us all that UK tourism has been the most important over the last fifty years – in fact from the beginning of tourism here – and long may it continue…

We all left feeling suitably impressed, both by our bulldog minister and our bull of an island President.

Thats what it said on the tin…

In actualité it meant that Xico Tarres (President of the Island Council), Mrs Meg Munn (British Secretary of State for Consular Affairs), Denise Holt (British Ambassador to Spain) and Helen Watson (British Consul) had a “do” down at the existing British Consul and unveiled a plaque to commemorate the day. Security was tight and there were no riff raff – but we got in and we did spot an island couple who were probably trying to bend the ear of Xico…

Andy, I put a shirt on for the first time this year – you could’ve

After the typical english muck up of the pulling of the curtain of the plaque went wrong there was a q and a with the local press. Both Mrs Munn and Mr Tarres went to great lengths to emphasise how important british tourists are to the island.

We have to review the recording of it but the penultimate question didn’t seem to go down that well but being british we wouldn’t let the press conference end on a downer so I asked Xico Tarres about Winter Tourism and whether they would be working with the consul for the UK market.

Here’s the audio of the question and answer: click here
To paraphrase:
“We are expanding on the spanish scheme that subsidises spanish pensioners to come to ibiza in the winter and will be expanding it so the english, french, german and italian pensioners will be coming over in winter 2009″

so thats the islands answer to winter tourism…

Fair play to Mrs Munn, she arrived last night after a 4 hour plane delay, went to san an’s west end and then went to amnesia….

Click on images for larger versions

Xico Tarres, Meg Munn, Denise Holt	Meg Munn unveils the plaque

Xico Tarres, Meg Munn and Helen Watson	let’s have some cava…

The inauguration of the new British Consulate takes place tomorrow morning.

Along with the British Ambassador to Spain, Denise Holt (pictured) will be The British Secretary of State for Consular Affairs, Mrs Meg Munn, British Consul Helen Watson and the President of the Island Council Xico Torres.

We’ve been invited so we’ll pop along and have a look and ask a few questions about promoting winter tourism to the UK…

08/06/07: new british ambassador to spain visits ibiza