Holiday bookings to the Balearics over the past seven days have risen by 10.2% compared to the same week last year, according to the booking platform TravelgateX.
The domestic market accounts for a 57.2 % of the share of bookings, followed by the United Kingdom, with 15.3 %, Germany, with 3.7 % and the Thai market, with 2.8 % of the share - an increase of 28.6 %.
Further more, the rise in bookings in recent weeks has led many Spanish hotel companies to bring forward the opening of their hotels to the end of March, coinciding with Easter, which this year is earlier than in previous years.
And all this despite the increase in prices as a result of inflation, which peaks at 15% on the most critical dates and in the most popular destinations, according to SiteMinder.
The good weather, together with an early Easter week has led the Mallorcan hotel chain Meliá to bring forward the opening of its hotels, especially those in the Balearics, to the end of March.
The same has happened to another of Spain’s major hotel companies, Riu, which has taken advantage of Easter and has been brought forward the opening of some of its hotels. They will open about a week before the public holidays on March 22.
According to the Smart Observatory prepared by the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodation (Cehat), advance bookings in Spanish tourist accommodation have grown significantly this year, despite the fact that inflation has raised prices by between 4 and 6%.
The companies’ forecasts show a promising outlook for the next three months, with occupancy in the portfolio at 45% (5.7 percentage points higher than in 2023).
The improvement in the anticipation of bookings together with the proximity of Easter has led to a 13% increase in occupancy in Spain compared to 2023, with particularly good results on the islands and coasts.
One example is Calvia, which expects a total of 149 of the 230 tourist establishments to be open in March.
According to the town council “the tourism in Calvia is moving towards deseasonalisation”.
In Palmanova and Magalluf, more than half of the hotels are expected to be open by the end of March.