FLOODING IN!

PALMA
LAST minute booking British tourists have been flooding into the Balearics since the start of this month as millions flee the UK's dreadful weather.
However, whereas desperate Britons were able to pick up some last-minute offers at the start of the month, the tour operators have got wise and have started to put up the prices with the Met Office forecasting a continuation of the poor weather.

At the end of June there were an estimated one million unsold package holidays but this weekend some two million Britons are leaving the country and, according to the Association of British Travel Agents, Majorca is one of the top destinations.

ABTA's Sean Tipton revealed that more than ten million Britons will be going abroad in August and that figure may rise if the flood waters continue to do so.

Travel agents are reporting that bookings over this past week have been 100 percent up in comparison to the end of July last year.
Hoteliers in the Balearics are reporting near-maximum occupancy with flights from the UK to Palma becoming increasingly hard to come-by.
The irony of the situation in Britain is that, in the run up to the summer, travel experts were predicting that, as the country becomes increasingly concerned about the environment, more people would be spending their summer holiday in Britain - so tour operators reduced their prices.

However, the heavy flooding and 11 weeks of bad weather has fuelled a surge in bookings and holiday prices.
Last month, hoteliers in Majorca and Ibiza reported that at least 60 percent of their clients booked at the last minute.
The Co-Op's Travel and Travelcare claims that Majorca and Ibiza are full and Palma airport is this weekend handling four percent (15'179) more passengers than the same time last year. 380.300 passengers are expected and the airport will also be handling 2.594 flight movements, 93 more than over the last weekend in July last year.