Complicated peak summer season ahead. | Gemma Andreu

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Testing times ahead for the Mallorca hotel sector and UK tour operators. With schools about to break up for the summer in the UK, a number of tour operators have started slashing holiday prices to top destinations like Mallorca while leading Mallorca and Spanish hotel chains have been bombarding people with Twitter and phone messages for weeks now offering savings of up top 40 percent.

Hotel occupancy for July and August is expected to be high, near 90 percent, but there are so many variables, and the sector in Mallorca admits that with access to much last minute information, such as strikes and heat, people can make sudden changes to their plans, especially if discount deals are being offered.

UK travellers heading abroad over the next few weeks are going to combat a number of hurdles.
Workers at a number of airports across the UK are poised to strike this summer, meaning getting through the travel hubs with your bags could be particularly difficult on certain days.

Around 100 security officers and terminal technicians employed by Birmingham Airport will begin all-out continuous strike action from Tuesday 18 July, claiming they’ve been the victims of two years of post-pandemic pay cuts.

They say that they received a rise of 2.8% last year, when the real rate of inflation was running at 13.8%. The airport, which offered a 10.1% rise that was rejected by Unite workers, said the strikes were ‘regrettable’.

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“We are asking customers to put as much hand luggage as possible into the aircraft hold to limit the volume of items subject to pre-flight security checks and so minimise delays,“ a Birmingham Airport spokesperson said.

The strikes are expected to cause issues for travellers flying with TUI, EasyJet, Wizz, Ryanair, Lufthansa and Emirates.

Just shy of 1,000 baggage handlers and check-in staff at Gatwick Airport are among those who will stage eight days of strikes from later in July in a dispute over pay. The workers will strike initially for four days beginning on Friday 28 July ending on Tuesday 1 August. Then a further four days from Friday 4 August until Tuesday 8 August.

The airlines affected include British Airways, easyJet, Ryanair, TUI, Westjet and Wizz Air.

And, if air traffic controllers across Europe go ahead with a threat to strike, as many as 12,600 daily flights across the Continent could be impacted, according to The Times.

Union Syndicale Bruxelles, a trade union representing staff at Eurocontrol - which manages European airspace - is threatening to take industrial action in a row over issues such as recruitment, management and rosters.
easyJet, for example, has already been forced to cancel thousands of flights this summer because of European industrial action.