Viewpoint

Balearic hoteliers are concerned and they have good reason to be worried. I think you can safely say that almost 70 percent of tourists coming to the Balearics next year will have either booked their holiday with Airtours-Aspro, the TUI Group or Condor Neckermann. All three have off-shoots in Britain and Germany. In other words the pie now is split three ways. Before when there were about half a dozen big tour operators, hoteliers were in a fantastic bargaining position but nowadays they just have the “Big Three” to negotiate with. By the look of things there is expected to be further market consolidation or in other words the industry could be left with just two key-players. Whether or not this is good or bad news for the consumer it is certainly bad news for local hoteliers.