TUI, Europe's largest travel group, anticipate a 15% increase in sales in the first quarter of 2024, and CEO Stefan Baumert highlights Mallorca as one of the preferred Mediterranean holiday destinations. Mallorca is in fact exceeding all expectations: "Mallorca is way ahead in terms of current bookings and we expect demand to be higher than ever this summer."
Despite some economic woes, the main market - Germany - grew last year. The number of German tourists who came to Mallorca and the Balearics was on a par with pre-pandemic 2019; it was the same story with the second largest foreign market, the UK. The company observes that the desire to take holidays has not been dimmed by increases in the cost of living.
The TUI fly airline division, says Baumert, will be increasing its flights to Palma this summer. The airline serves the Dutch, Belgian and Scandinavian markets as well as Germany and UK.
Mallorca, he adds, currently tops the list of preferred destinations, followed by Antalya in Turkey. TUI have acknowledged that demand could shift from the eastern Mediterranean if conflict in the Middle East escalates, a possibility that Jet2 in the UK have also raised. This could potentially add even more demand for Mallorca.