Of all the markets that supply tourists to Ibiza, the Russians ranked 13th in 2019. Few came to the island that year (11,911), less than Poles (19,091), Austrians (15,281) or Portuguese (24,730). But there are many companies in the Pitiusas that would not exchange a Russian for 1,000 Poles. The reason: their purchasing power is very high. What they want, they get. They are capable of spending 100,000 euros on a night out without maxing out their credit card. Or twice as much on the rental of a longboat.
In that pre-pandemic year we were already visited by some 900 fewer than in 2018 (when the peak was reached), but in 2020 we were visited by just 654, rising to 1,576 in 2021. In 2022, if the invasion of Ukraine continues and the tough sanctions against Russia are maintained, it is likely that none of them will come, much less on a yacht or private jet, as they would risk being seized.
“Many of the Russian millionaires who spend the summer on the Balearic Islands in their yachts usually escape to Ibiza for a few days of partying to have a good time. They spend a lot. They take quiet, private tables so they can bring all their friends”
“We are going to notice their absence”, admits José Luis Benítez, manager of Ocio de Ibiza, the employers’ organisation that brings together a large number of the island’s main nightclubs. They will notice it because the Russians spend a good part of their rubles in these clubs, where they don’t skimp: “Many of the Russian millionaires who come to the Balearic Islands in their yachts in the summer usually escape to Ibiza for a few days of partying, to have a good time. They spend a lot. They take quiet, private tables so they can bring all their friends,” says Benítez, who assures us that they are clients who “have no problem ordering whatever they want. The most expensive bottles in each place usually go with them”.
Are they ostentatious? Benítez says that this is a myth: “There are Spaniards who spend a year saving, get a table worth 10,000 euros, order two bottles and think they are the kings of the party. In private parties there are two types of people: those who want peace and quiet, to be in an area where they will not be disturbed, and those who want to show off”.
Quiet, yes, but with no fuss. The one who in one night “visits two or three venues, leaves between 25,000 and 30,000 euros in each place “. That usually happens when the tycoon “comes accompanied by a good group of friends,” says the manager of Nocturno leisure: “They move a lot of money and rent super houses”. In the case of his sector, “they come in groups of friends to have fun. They are very polite, they behave, they pay perfectly”. And their stays are not those of the usual tourists: “They are people who come and go. They usually have private planes or have the boat at another base on the Peninsula and they jump on them whenever they want: they go somewhere, come here, spend a week, leave, disappear for two weeks, come back… They like to come to the openings and closings. They love to start and end the season like this.
Concerned about the sanctions imposed on Russia and its oligarchs, Nuria Moreno, president of Ibiza Luxury Destination, has met this week with tourism officials of the Consell to analyze the repercussions, although she admits that they lack concrete data on this market. According to Moreno, the profile of the Russian is that of “a very ostentatious person who usually spends a lot of money. They rents villas, luxury hotels, large boats, private VIPs… Everything in a big way”. She assures that, normally, people who have a lot of money “are not like the Russians, they tend to be quite discreet”. He recalls that it is not the market that brings the most luxury tourists to the island, but it is “one of the biggest spenders”. Few but profitable.
Tailor-made suits
Moreno agrees with Benítez that “they spend an awful lot”, and gives an example: “Imagine a party room. At the next table there is someone who has just uncorked a 200 euro bottle of wine. Well, the Russian asks for two 400-euro bottles just to be more. What they like the most is to get the VIP room at Lio, Ushuaïa, Hï…”. And there, even if they go alone, “in five minutes they’ll fill their tables. They start inviting everyone so that their table is the one that stands out the most. They make themselves noticed in the Ibizan night when they go to the venues. Yes, there are discreet ones, but they are few”.
“They don’t cause any problems, on the contrary. They are considered regular clients of this house. We know them and we make tailor-made stays for them because they are special clients. Many of them are repeat customers who have known us for many years”.
At the Ibiza Gran Hotel, a five-star luxury hotel, they are pampered according to the power of their checkbook. According to its director, Raúl Sierra , “they are made to measure”. Sierra’s description of them is that of the ideal tourist: “They don’t cause any problems, on the contrary. They are considered regular clients of this house. We know them and we make tailor-made stays for them because they are special clients. Many of them are repeat customers who have known us for many years”.
But nothing is as it used to be. In 2020 and 2021 he admits that, due to the pandemic, Russian tourism suffered a sharp drop: “And 2019 was not a great year either. And for this summer, the worst predictions, as for the moment they have no news from them: “The Russians who come to our hotel are very powerful, with very high purchasing power, but as of today we have no news from them, neither to book nor to cancel reservations. There is nothing from them for this year”. He is consoled by the fact that they used to book in April or May, although he warns that “for some time now they have been coming less to Ibiza, as they seem to prefer places like Marbella“.
Sierra says they are a tourist he appreciates “very much” for being “super polite and respectful”. Some rented them “up to two or three rooms for one or two weeks. Or for a month. And “they spent significant amounts,” which he cannot specify. It is confidential. He assures that there are many who arrive “in their private jets” to the island, where they previously “sent their boats”.
“In Ibiza they rent boats ranging from 15 to 25 meters in length, some more. Renting them costs them about 4,000 euros on average per day, depending on the model and luxury”
Ramon Diaz Gonzalez, president of the Nautical sector of the Pimeef, confirms these ‘jumps’ by boat or private plane: “They come to the Pitiusas from Mallorca or Altea, where there is a large Russian community. Or they rent the boats there (in Denia or Jávea) and make the crossing here, or they rent them here”. Or they come with their own yachts, as Roman Abramovich did in 2015 with his ‘Eclipse’ (164 meters long), which anchored off Cala de Bou.
Russians are good sailors
And which boats do the Russians prefer here? “In Ibiza, they rent boats ranging from 15 to 25 metres in length, some more. Renting them costs them around 4,000 euros a day on average, depending on the model and luxury. Normally they are for three or four days on average, but there are Russians who take them for 10 days, 20 days or even a whole month”. He stresses that “they are very good payers”. Although not many Russians travel to Ibiza, the nautical sector will also miss them.
“This year we will have to forget the Russians. They hit us where it hurts the most, in a part of the season where you can’t replace them with tourists from other markets”
Like Igor Ibarguchi, general manager of Rumbo Norte Yacht Club, although it seems that he has a love/hate relationship with them. His Russian clients charter sailboats and catamarans “during the coldest months, that is, September, October, April and May”, which, if the war continues, will create a difficult gap to fill in his schedule: “This year we will have to forget about the Russians. They hit us where it hurts the most, in a part of the season where you can’t replace them with tourists from other markets. The Spanish, for example, will not come to sail on those dates. For the Russian, the Ibizan weather in October is very good; for a Spaniard it is still a bit cool for sailing”.
His Russian profile “is not that of the millionaire with the megayacht”. His is “middle class, well-to-do”, between 25 and 40 years old and knows what the sea is like: “It’s funny, they usually sail in a flotilla. Instead of coming as a family (which they sometimes do), they get together in quite large groups and create flotillas of 3 to 10 boats to sail around the Pitiusas”. And they do it very well: “Many are military or ex-military. They have served in the Navy in their country and have qualifications, which are different from those in Spain. Here it is very theoretical and with little practice. There they are forced to sail in open waters, without views of the coast, not on a pontoon to make docking maneuvers, as is done here”.
“They are very rough. They don’t know how to take care of things as we would like. We are used to Spaniards, Austrians and Germans, who are more careful. The Russians are more rough and tumble.”
His view of how they behave differs from that of those who host them in luxury hotels or VIPs that cost an arm and a leg: “They are very rude. They don’t know how to take care of things the way we would like them to. We are used to Spaniards, Austrians and Germans, who are more careful. The Russians are more rough and tumble. They get drunk to the point of untold drunkeness. You see fathers and sons staggering around the pontoon, they can’t stand up. When they mess up, they leave the boat so full of rubbish that it’s unimaginable. Sometimes they leave a frying pan of fried eggs on the living room table… They don’t care. The Spaniard has more shame, they’re more discreet”.
And “they don’t like rules“, he asserts. “You tell them they have to leave [the boat] at a certain time and they don’t comply. The Spaniard plays the fool, the mug, but Russians tell you with a straight face that they don’t feel like leaving and they’re staying two more hours because they’re sleepy.”
Jetting to Barcelona to spend up
Another recurring problem with them is the payment of the deposit: “They don’t want to leave their credit card. They are very reluctant. They try to pay in cash. But it is no longer possible because of the money laundering law [which prohibits accepting more than 1,000 euros from a private individual]. They try desperately to pay hard cash. They can spend two hours fighting about it, even saying they don’t have a card”.
“They had very high purchasing power. They wanted to go shopping in luxury stores, but there were hardly any in Ibiza at that time. So they would take their private jet, go to Barcelona, go shopping and come back in the evening”
Roberto San Esteban, member of the Association of Tourist Holiday Homes, used to have “quite a few” Russian clients years ago. Not anymore. At that time there was a problem with them: “They had very high purchasing power. They wanted to go shopping in luxury stores, but there were hardly any in Ibiza at that time. So they would take their private jet, go to Barcelona, go shopping and come back in the evening”. The association hardly accommodates Russians, says San Esteban, who seem to have a preference for very specific companies for renting luxury villas, such as Ibiza One. Its manager, Hugo Richter, assures that they “still” don’t reservations for this summer from Russians, clients he describes as “friendly, who come in private planes”, who come to stay in the villas “for two weeks to a month” (he cannot confess what they pay for them, but stresses that they are “luxury, high level; a lot of money), and who go to luxurious restaurants “for which you have to book three weeks in advance”.
“My Ukrainian clients are very similar to the Russians: they are friendly, speak English and have high purchasing power”. Like Russians, they like to go to “Lio, Chiringuito, Blue Marlin or Juan and Andrea”
Richter also has Ukrainian customers: “They are very similar, friendly customers who speak English and have high purchasing power” and who, like the invaders of their country, like to go to the “Lio, the Chiringuito, the Blue Marlin or the Juan and Andrea”, or rent “20 and 30 meter yachts”.
According to Richter, Russians hardly buy villas here. They prefer to rent. The tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov, who bought the peninsula of Sa Ferradura (Sant Miquel) nine years ago, is one of the exceptions. The house and the two swimming pools in its 12,000 square meters were rented until before the pandemic for more than 250,000 euros a week, a price that included his staff (22), including a private chef.
“We have to worry about the impact of this crisis in Europe”
José Antonio Roselló, vice-president of the Confederation of Business Associations of the Balearic Islands (CAEB), is not so worried that “the Russians aren’t coming” (to paraphrase the title of Norman Jewison’s film) as he is about how the war and that the sanctions will soon affect the economy of the European Union. “It is believed,” explains Roselló, “that the world economy could go into recession. The European one might not, but it will have weaker growth and higher inflation, stagflation.” The growth of the EU as a whole could not exceed 3%, but with inflation at 7%, “that leads us to stagflation, after the fall of 10% of GDP caused by the pandemic. The economy will not recover in this way: the situation will be one of stagnation”.
“We should be concerned about what is happening in our clients’ economies. It can have a direct effect on consumer decisions and, therefore, on tourism”
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.