Spain’s confederation of hotels and tourist accommodation, Cehat, expects this summer season to be along similar lines to last summer, when records were broken.
The confederation does, however, point to a fall in German and Scandinavian tourism and to specific destinations being affected by this more than others - Majorca and Gran Canaria, for example.
The latest Cehat survey of the Spanish hotel industry involved questionnaires sent to members which represent some 15,000 establishments. According to 57% of these members, domestic tourism is expected to rise, while 49% point to a drop in foreign tourism, most obviously German and Scandinavian.
Competition
The reasons for this are by now very familiar - competition from other destinations and good weather in northern Europe.
Juan Molas, the Cehat president, stated yesterday that German tourism in the most popular Majorcan resorts is likely to be down between ten and fifteen per cent. With regard to competitors, he noted that bookings for Turkey rose 20% between January and April (compared with the same period in 2018) and ten per cent from April to June.
He also referred to the competitive performance of Croatia, Greece, Montenegro and Tunisia and to the fact that there is a price difference of up to 50 and 60% between certain Turkish and Spanish resorts.
As far as Brexit is concerned, he didn’t consider that this had caused a worrying fall in British tourism.
Among markets that are performing well for Spain’s tourism, Molas highlighted the US, Canada and Russia, which are all up some ten per cent.
Domestic
Domestic reservations by the end of June had risen by a similar amount. Cehat anticipates tourist numbers for 2019 to be about the same as 2018.
The confederation is therefore less optimistic than the national ministry of industry, trade and tourism, which is forecasting an increase of 500,000 tourists.