The strong vaccination campaign undertaken in Spain since March (the number of people with double guidelines is already above 72% of the population), the deployment of the covid passport and the generalization of tests to detect infected people have not been sufficient reasons to recover normality in tourism in Spain and approach the occupancy levels obtained in 2019, before the coronavirus crisis.
It was the Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, who advanced in the latest edition of Fitur, held exceptionally in May, that the forecasts handled by the Executive were to achieve between 40% and 50% of the flows of foreign tourists compared to those of 2019, in which 38 million travelers arrived.
Meliá anticipates occupations in August of 70% in Andalusia and 55% in Benidorm
The objective seems manageable, despite the puncture in the United Kingdom in June and July, offset by the rise in France and Germany, the other two major issuers of travelers to Spain, and above all by the upturn in national tourism. Employers and large chains agree on the difficulties in issuing short-term forecasts, due to changing travel restrictions and the prevailing preference to close reservations days before the trip.
Reserves in books
A good example of these trends is Meliá, the largest Spanish hotel company. Company sources emphasize that the destinations in which international tourism had a great weight, such as Calviá, Benidorm or Tenerife (very dependent on British tourists), are well below the figures for 2019. On the other hand, they highlight "a very positive pace and a good level of occupancy” in destinations with a high weight of the national customer, with a volume of reservations in books for August of 70% in Andalusia and 55% in Benidorm. Even the island destinations, despite having to travel by plane, are also registering good data, with Ibiza and Menorca in the lead, with 60% of reservations in August, the Canary Islands above 57% and Mallorca above 45%.
Along the same lines, Barceló highlights the national tourist as the engine that is moving the reservations, although always made with little notice. “In July, 52% of reservations were made for the same month. And in August, although we have registered a greater advance, the tonic is the same ”, they emphasize from the Balearic hotel company. The forecasts for the summer are to increase occupancy by 17% and the price by 10% compared to 2020 and extend the high season until at least October. By markets, in addition to the national one, those that have performed best have been countries with less weight so far in the arrival of travelers such as France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland and Eastern European nations such as Poland and the Czech Republic.
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The desire to travel after many months of confinement and the launch of vouchers to stimulate internal travel have been two of the elements that have mobilized national travelers to spend their holidays in Spain, to which have been added the strong restrictions to travel abroad. In Benidorm, a destination traditionally restricted for foreign tourism, 81.4% of overnight stays in the first week of August were from Spaniards.
Tourist vouchers
The Canary Islands, despite the fact that their high season is in winter, currently has 70% of the hotel facilities open and the regional Executive expects to close the summer with occupancy levels of 50% compared to 2019. “Inland tourism has worked very well. 50,000 tourist vouchers of 200 euros have been distributed, with a cost of 10 million euros and that has allowed June and July to have been the best months of the entire pandemic”, stress sources from the Ministry of Tourism. As for foreign markets, Germany has been the one that has contributed the most visits, followed by France and the United Kingdom. Regarding this last market, an acceleration of reservations is expected in August, since the Canary Islands are once again in the amber zone, which allows those vaccinated to travel without quarantine.
Barceló forecasts a 10% price increase compared to those registered in the summer of 2020
"We are having a survival season, better than in 2020, but well below 2019, with certain positive factors that give us hope," says Juan Molas, president of the Tourism Board, an organization that brings together 80 companies in the tourism sector. . Among them, it stands out that from a drop in reserved airline seats of 54% in June, compared to 2019, it has gone to another 15% in August. "In September, the volume of reserves is much higher than in May and June due to the growth of vaccines and there are many hopes for the winter season." Molas specifies that the great beneficiary may be the Canary Islands. "Norwegian and the Nordic tour operators are closing quotas in Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura and that is good news for normalization."
Travel agencies request ERTE until March 2022
Treasury. The improvement experienced by billing for hotels, transport or hospitality has not reached travel agencies. Carlos Garrido, president of the Spanish Confederation of Travel Agencies (CEAV), points out that 75% of turnover in high season depends on Spaniards traveling abroad. “There has been little movement, so we are with revenues that do not reach 50% of 2019. In addition to outbound tourism, business and convention tourism has failed, so our exit from the crisis will be slower and more gradual” .
No direct help. Garrido emphasizes that the direct aid offered by the Government has not yet materialized and that it has many limitations. “We need a little support after two years of crisis. We are concerned about travel agencies that live with great cash tension. Our recovery is going to be slower than that of hotels and transportation.”
Labor. In this context, the president of CEAV demands the extension of the ERTE, as currently defined, until the spring of 2022. “We are the tourism activity that has the most personnel with suspended employment. We want to avoid at all costs that we get in the same bag as hotels or transport. It is important that it is known that we will leave later”.
