At the Fitur tourism fair in Madrid, Cosme Bonet, the councillor for economic affairs said that there are worries that Brexit will have a very negative impact on Majorca, while the German market is not "reactivating". The hoteliers federation had expressed their concerns to him and so together they are going to target the "main, alternative markets".
These include Scandinavia, Austria, Switzerland, Poland and Russia, while there will be particular attempts to further increase the Spanish market (which grew substantially in 2018). In the case of the Russian market, which has experienced some problems in recent years, there is a boost from the announcement that Aeroflot will be flying direct between Palma and Moscow from the start of June.
Tour operators were meanwhile digesting the stance taken by Brussels over UK flights in the event of a no-deal Brexit. UK airlines will not be able to increase their summer scheduling to the Balearics and other EU destinations because of limitations on the awarding of flight slots.
There was an increase last year, but the same increase will not be accepted this year. Jet2 has scheduled a ten per cent increase in flights from March to October. It is just one airline that could well be affected.
Meanwhile, the presidents of the hoteliers federations in Majorca, Minorca and Ibiza gave a joint press conference at the Fitur fair yesterday at which they called for the tourist tax to be suspended. The federations were citing possible falls in bookings of up to 20% for this summer, which was a figure quoted in the Week in Tourism column last week. The upper range of the fall is said to be 30%.
