Financial giants to “weigh up” tourist hotel companies

THE terrorist attrocities committed in Madrid on 11 March “have not brought holiday bookings in Majorca to a halt, nor caused massive cancellation”.
Pere Cañellas head of the Majorcan Hotel Federation, was speaking confidently yesterday during the signing of a collaboration agreement between his tourist management organisation and the blue chip financial services giant, Morgan Stanley. The 400 or so professionals who work for the London-based company are to make economic reports available to the Balearic tourist industry's leading businessmen. Morgan Stanley has committed to make available for free, financial assessments of all the tourist-linked businesses belonging to the Majorcan Hoteliers Federation. Such compilations will enable the industry's top businessmen to make soundly-based decisions. He said that the agreement signed with Morgan Stanley meets an overdue need in an uncertain climate “for a factual focus on where and when investments should be made”. The general director of Morgan Stanley in Spain, Alfonso Gil, explained that his company carries out economic analyses of the key client tourist markets, which, he signalled, “could be a valuable support tool when the time comes for negotiation with international tour operators”. The reports which Morgan Stanley is to make available to the Majorcan Hotel Federation's leading businessmen, include sector analyses, as well as those of individual companies. Financial assessment will include economic and geopolitical trends to provide a contextualised, wide-angle viewpoint. Alfonso Gil highlighted the fact that each company needs a concrete financial plan when considering profit investment.
He alleged, however, that the key to successful decision is in the greatest or least risk that the business might want to run when considering such operations. In terms of the coming months, Morgan Stanley's director predicted an overall economic recovery in Europe. He suggested that this “is already being reflected in the volume of reservations being made by the crucially important German market”. He believed, however, that the appreciation of the value of the euro which “still had a way to run before the end of the year”, didn't favour tourist growth. With regard to the stock-exchange market, Alfonso Gil furthered that in the near future, there could be new outlets for the hotel sector in Spain.