Price is King. How many times have we heard that warning from the UK tourist industry and how many times has it fallen on deaf hoteliers’ ears here in the Balearics? The insecurity in a number of the Balearics’ main competing destinations has played very much into the hands of the islands’ tourist industry, but it appears that hoteliers have been getting fat on the ill-gotten gains of terrorism and this season they could pay the price for it.
Bookings to Majorca are around 20 per cent up on last year, the mainland has posted an increase of over 40 per cent, but Majorcan hoteliers and suppliers have also put their prices up. In some cases package holiday prices to Majorca are 80% higher than last year and the sudden drop in the value of the pound will only add to the pain in the wallet for British holidaymakers.
This week the Greek tourist authorities have announced a late and sharp increase in bookings from the UK while Turkey has reported that the downturn they expected in the UK market is not as bad as expected - main reason: they are cheaper destinations. Bulgaria is still performing well as are the other Mediterranean islands, not to mention the USA and the Caribbean, in particular the highly fashionable Cuba.
So, what started looking like a sell-out summer may have been a mere mirage for the hoteliers because peak season is not full, rooms are available - but at a cost.