BRITISH BOOKINGS FOR BALEARICS 2011 ALREADY UP BY 20 PERCENT!

THERE appears to be light at the end of the tunnel for the Balearics tourist industry which has been hammered by the global recession for the past two years.

The latest official year-on-year figures from the UK on September 18, show that British bookings to the Balearics are down by eight percent with the UK overseas holiday sales worldwide down by three percent.

The only winner in Spain this year has been the Canary Islands where UK booking have risen by two percent primarily because the authorities reduced airport taxes and offered other incentives to airlines to operate on the traditionally non-transfer days.

There has been a late boost in British bookings to the Balearics, Majorca in particular, but it has not been enough to offset the losses incurred during the first half of the summer season.

But, not only are the region's main client markets emerging from the recession, there appear to have been a change in holiday trends.
The Turkish boom appears to be over with bookings for next summer up by only four percent, compared to the 26 percent growth this year. And Greece is having a very hard time for a variety of reasons.

However, the good news is that the latest cross UK market figures provided to the Bulletin by Hugh Morgan, the Managing Director of Tour Operations for the Monarch Group, is that bookings for the Balearics for summer 2011 are already up by 12 percent which translates into a 20 percent increase in demand compared to this year.

There has also been a slow-down in demand for Egypt while the big winners with the UK market for next summer, although the numbers are relatively insignificant compared to the millions which come to the Balearics and Spain in general, are Morocco, up 125 percent and Tunisia - up 33 percent for summer 2011.

Morgan, whose Monarch Group has bucked the trend this year and had a good summer, admitted that the summer has not ended as badly as it began and hopes that the current figures for next summer are a concrete indication of a change in market trends and that the British are going to be returning to the Balearics in droves.

There have been problems in Turkey this summer with over booking and standards in some areas not quite being up to scratch, Consequently, those Britons who traditionally holiday here in the Balearics but thought they fancied a change, look set to be returning.

The Balearic tourism authorities did eventually release promotional funds normally allocated to the tour operators at the start of the year.
The money finally came through towards the end of the summer season, some as late as last month, but it has led to many of the travel firms launching Balearic promotional campaigns and those, coupled with the 1.5 million euro marketing drive launched by the Ministry for Tourism over the past few months, appear to have paid dividends.

But, before what is looking to be a summer 2011 recovery, the Balearics is going to have a “slow” winter.
Monarch is operating six flights per week Palma from Gatwick and Manchster throughout the winter as part of a winter programme involving 100 hotels, cycling clubs, golfers and hikers etc. but Morgan did admit yesterday that, at the moment, demand is slow. “But, with the Balearic Ministry for Tourism and the Spanish Tourist Board we're pushing ahead and pushing hard. “We're plastering the tubes and buses in London from this weekend with our winter Majorca programme but the Balearics is up against key winter sunshine markets like the Canaries, Egypt, Goa and even destinations like Mombassa, although the number are not large,” he said yesterday.