Best August for tourism since 1999

Joan Collins THE development of the Summer tourist season is responding to the expectations of tourist groups, hoteliers, associations of tourism companies, and the Balearic Government itself. With the May and June figures giving the Balearics the leading occupation rates at a national level, the islands have again achieved the leading position in July, pending definitive results from Frontur and the National Institute of Statistics. And for the month of August, the situation is more than optimal according to the booking figures. The hoteliers associations and the Association of Hotel Chains agree that this season “the occupation levels have been five or six points above those recorded in 2005. The bookings from the Spanish and German markets, together with a slight recovery in British tourism has had a positive effect this year, mainly because practically everything has been sold at the brochure price without any special offers, apart from the discounts at the beginning of the year to encourage early booking”. For August, because of the demand from all markets, hoteliers on Majorca, Minorca and Ibiza have been forced to stop sales of reservations in order to prevent overbooking. The Association of Hotel Chains, whose President is Francisco Miralles, said that “July has been full and August is going to be the same, but with very controlled occupation. The season has been good generally, but the most important thing is that places have been sold at normal prices without special offers”. The President of the Hoteliers Federation of Majorca, Pere Cañellas, confirmed that it is logical and normal that the Balearics is leading the figures for occupation this year, “because the figures for sales of reservations are good and the demand from some markets is increasing, as in the case of Spanish and German tourism. All this has meant that the levels of occupation have risen above those recorded in 2005 by six points”. In contrast with other years in this period, the hoteliers associations said that in August there will be “peaks” but having controlled sales, “there will not be any overbooking, as we have kept a daily watch on overbooking and diverted reservations to hotels with a lesser occupation”. In the accompanying graphic, the expected occupation in July and August can be seen, with numbers similar to those in 1999, which was the last tourist “boom” in the Balearics.