At the World Summit of Travel Agents Associations in Jaén, Andalusia, combating perceived tourismphobia in destinations has been high on the agenda.
As reported by the Palma-based Hosteltur website, travel agencies in the UK are seeking to tackle the "misinformation" about tourismphobia. The ABTA travel association has produced a guide for its members to use in allaying traveller concerns about destinations such as Mallorca, Barcelona and Tenerife.
ABTA's director of institutional relations, Susan Deer, said: "In the UK the media love travel news and in the last 18 months a lot of it has been related to anti-tourism, some of it in Spain, so travel agencies are concerned about what to do about their clients' concerns."
Deer added that although plenty of media coverage in the UK and other countries has been dedicated to anti-tourism reports, tourism to Spain has largely been unaffected. "It has not changed travel habits. People have not wanted to stop traveling to Spain, despite the topics in the media. That has to do with the management in the destinations and the work of the agencies."
Mark Meader, the vice-president of the US ASTA travel association, observed: "The media are looking for that negative headline that catches the reader's attention. Travel agencies have a very good opportunity to educate the consumer in a complicated world. They will be able to give sufficient reasons to travel to a destination."
Meader did acknowledge that some Americans have been afraid to go to Barcelona "because they thought they were going to be shot with a water pistol".
The Balearic Government has been working with UK and German travel agencies on the very issue of apparent anti-tourism. This was stepped up after the first protests last year. The tourism ministry's efforts were directed towards reassuring the main markets and guaranteeing that the Balearics are a safe destination where tourists remain welcome.
The AETIB tourism strategy agency has been in contact with agencies in the UK and Germany as well as with media outlets in seeking to mitigate any potentially negative impacts of the protests on demand. In this regard, the report released the other day by Turespaña, Spain's tourism institute, did suggest that anti-tourism has been a factor in the slump in German tourism in Mallorca. But Turespaña did also highlight issues such as prices and current economic circumstances in Germany.