IBIZA party holidays in jeopardy but Terminal 4’s Reegan Matthews says 2021 will be the biggest party the Island has ever seen

IBIZA EXCLUSIVE: Euro Weekly News speaks with Ibiza entrepreneur Reegan Matthews about his thoughts on coronavirus and the effects it will have on the party island.

By Lizzie Day

Today Euro Weekly News spoke exclusively with Reegan Matthews, 29, from Kent, who has been running multiple businesses in Ibiza for the past 10 years.

Starting off working in club promotions selling events and packages, Reegan now owns event company Terminal 4 that himself and close friends invested in, in 2016. They entered partnership with one of the biggest techno labels in the world – Tronic label and in 2019 were committed to a full season of 18 shows at one of the island’s biggest night clubs Eden, in San Antonio. The event was so successful it would see them return to Ibiza in 2020 with an extended 20-week season.

Alongside running an event company, Reegan also manages the world’s largest engaging social media base for Ibiza, The Ibiza Times, reaching an impressive 20,000,000 engagements each month, they also offer services such as private yacht charters, villa rentals and club entry packages.

Ibiza has an average of three million tourists visiting every summer between May and October, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, business owners and holidaymakers are unsure if the season will even go ahead.

When asked if there were any worries about this summer, and his thoughts on what the outcome will be Reegan told us: “Yes, today we heard the first inevitable announcement from the Ushuia group that events in May have been forced to cancel.

“As it stands, we haven’t cancelled any parties yet, however we expect to do so within the coming days, weeks.

“Unfortunately for all people planning to travel to Ibiza, no one really knows what is happening, it’s all down to the local government of both Spain and Ibiza and the country you are due to travel from.”

There have been many rumours that the Ibiza season will start later on in the year and finish in winter. Reegan spoke about how Ibiza is such a magical place and how he hopes that it’ll be extended, however he feels tourism will be effected: “When we know it’s safe to club together, we will announce our amended season plans straight away.

“However there is no clue as to when this will be, or even if it will happen unfortunately. The safety of our staff and the customers is paramount to us.

“Tourism will definitely be affected this year, to what extent we can’t tell, we feel there will be some form of a season, just not how we know it. It may be possible that the ‘nightlife’ scene will be worst effected, with people conscious to congregate in large groups.”

Reegan explained that from feedback on their social media platforms, 2021 could possibly be the biggest season the party island has ever seen.

We asked as a business, if they have to cancel any events how are they planning to recover lost business, on the matter Reegan said: “If we do have to cancel any events, we will do our best to reschedule, or postpone until the following summer season.

“Terminal 4 events’ customers will receive a full refund if an event is cancelled. It will definitely hit us financially, it’s completely unforeseen circumstances, no one could have predicted this would happen.”

Reegan believes once the pandemic is over and it’s safe to travel, tourism will be busier than ever: “I think we can expect a boom in tourism to Ibiza, other Balearic Islands, most countries in fact. Hopefully this will be over soon and business can try recover the damage.”