The ITB Berlin fair has highlighted the fact that German airlines and tour operators are assessing a rescheduling of flights from Turkey. The reasons are the recent earthquakes and veiled threats from Russia. The airlines in particular are said to be wanting to ensure a trouble-free summer and so are therefore looking at safe destinations, with Mallorca top of the list.
Germany's DRV travel association and the UK's ABTA are understood to share the nervousness about Turkey. With both the German and the UK markets set to recover 2022 losses in terms of number of tourists (by comparison with 2019), there is increased demand to contract hotel beds in Mallorca and the Balearics. This does raise an issue as to how well hotels can meet this demand, as they have already responded to what was increased demand in 2022 from other markets, such as France, Italy and Spain.
Turkish representatives at the fair are believed to have been offering promises of subsidies in order to guarantee flights, while tourism industry sources anticipate that there will be fierce price competition. Manuel Morales of the tour operator FTI says that Turkey will "make the most of last-minute sales to take market share from competing destinations, and Egypt and Greece will be included in this strategy".
This said, last-minute sales are a factor for Mallorca as well, the hoteliers having repeatedly pointed to their growth, while price competition is not something the island's tourism industry intends engaging in. Given the excellent forecasts for the summer, there doesn't seem to be a reason why it should.