A 10 percent fall in one of your principal markets should get the alarm bells ringing but not in the Balearics. A 13 percent drop in another key market should be cause for some concern. But not in the Balearics. In the Balearics a big rise in German tourism has meant that visitor numbers to the islands remained in positive territory in July.
British tourism in July fell by 10 percent and there were 13 percent fewer mainland Spaniards. The fall hardly raised an eye-lid locally. Who cares, fewer Brits and Spaniards but more Germans. Now if I was sitting in the local ministry for tourism I would be deeply worried. It appears that the islands are rapidly moving towards a one-nation-tourism-state, in otherwords the Germans rule supreme and the rest are left trailing. In the short term it could be all okay but there is that old adage about putting all your eggs into one basket.
According to a survey on our website the British are finding the islands more expensive and they were not too impressed by the anti-tourism protests. A sizeable slice (10 percent) have gone elsewhere in July. In the interest of balance I must say that we are talking about one month and perhaps British tourism bounced back in August. I don’t think so.
After being on holiday on the island in August I did get the impression that it was quieter and there was a notable absence of British tourists. You can’t dismiss a fall of any kind and there are clearly problems with key markets. Action stations?