Precisamente será el turismo juvenil clubber y festivo el que seguirá llenando Ibiza, toda vez que el turismo familiar ha ido optando por destinos más actuales y menos caros como es Turquía. El rotativo Times ofrece este reportaje que transcrimos en inglés directamente.The disappearance of Madeleine McCann from an Algarve holiday resort in 2007 is still affecting demand for holidays in Portugal, according to Thomas Cook.
Thomas Cook, Europe’s second largest travel company, revealed yesterday that package holiday bookings to Portugal are down by 30 per cent for this summer. Spain is also down 20 per cent and Italy by 35 per cent.
The company says the unfavourable euro exchange rate and rising unemployment are to blame for the picture across western Europe.
But Cooks says the disappearance of the British three-year-old from the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz in May 2007 is also still a factor when families think about holidaying in Portugal. “It is such as strong family destination,” said group chief executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa.
He added that the Portuguese tourist board had done what it could to boost visitor numbers. “Anything more would be insensitive,” he said. “Portugal has been down for two or three year, but it will come back,” he added.
Fontenla-Novoa was speaking at his company’s annual holiday forecast. He said that while Portugal and Spain are less popular, Turkey is up - not just because it is outside the euro-zone. The all-inclusive resorts are cheaper owing to lower staff and running costs and have more facilities because the properties are larger.
“You are always going to get some destinations that are difficult to shift… Spain and Portugal will be difficult to shift – mainland Spain and Canaries in particular – but the Balearics are doing well,” said Fontenla-Novoa.
His findings are supported by statistics released today by Cheapflights.co.uk, which found online searches for tickets to Tenerife are down 45 per cent and Lanzarote is down 18 per cent.
Likewise, Skyscanner.net says interest in Turkey is booming – the flights search website claims it had its busiest day for searches on Monday and says interest in Dalaman, Turkey is up 160 per cent on last year, while Bodrum is up 153 per cent.
Despite the collapse in bookings to Portugal and Spain, Britons holding out for cut-price package holidays will be sorely disappointed.
“We have not got any discounting or deals coming up,” said Fontenla-Novoa.
“Turkey will fill up first then we will get more bookings for Spain but Spain will not be cheaper than Turkey… we won’t try and stimulate Spain with cheap prices – it doesn’t work.”
Those looking for deals will have to look to packaging together their own holiday, which means they will lose the benefit of inclusive meals and transfers, and in some case it means holidays are not Atol bonded – so there’s a risk of losing your money if the hotelier or airline goes bust.
The reason the market will not be flooded with package holidays at rock-bottom prices this year, is because of a reduction in holidays for sale.
Thomas Cook has cut the number of holidays its sells to British holidaymakers by 10 per cent this year, following on from 12 per cent cuts last summer.
Likewise, rivals TUI Travel have cut capacity by 30 per cent over the last two years – so there are much fewer holidays available. Add to that the collapse of tour operator XL last year and consolidation in the UK travel market that led to the leading four operators becoming two, and there have been significant adjustments of capacity.
The upshot for consumers is that there are fewer package holidays on the market. Additionally, average holiday prices are up 9 per cent this year to £536 per person, according to Thomas Cook.
Despite the fall in bookings, Spain is still the biggest destination for Thomas Cook this year, followed by Turkey, which moved up from third place last year to overtake Greece.
Fontenla-Novoa dismissed the headlines that are declaring 2009 a bumper year for UK tourism as mostly hype. Although his own company is selling more domestic holidays in resorts such as Butlins and Haven, he said the difference was marginal.
His standpoint is supported by figures that came out of this weekend’s Google Zeitgeist conference, suggesting that people were still searching for foreign holidays.
Google searches for foreign holidays are up 7 per cent this year, while inquiries for budget holidays and for Butlins are down by about 30 per cent since January.
Online Travel Editor Steve Keenan last week spoke to a number of bedbank websites, which sell late availability hotels. They are anticipating a glut of rooms in Greece, Spain, Portugal, the Canaries and the Algarve this summer, but shortages of rooms in Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia.
According to foreign currency provider, Travelex, demand for Euros has been flat this year versus a 21.5 per cent increase for Turkish Lira and 25.9 per cent increase in demand for the Egyptian Pound.
Timesonline
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