Travel agents claim Easter bookings down five per cent

Easter holiday bookings in the Balearics are down by five per cent, according to local travel agents, but the three resorts which are expected to do well are Alcudia, Cala Rajada and the Playa de Palma which, contrary to the Hotel Federation ruling out price reductions, have been offering special “affordable” Easter deals. A spokesperson for AVIBA, the Association of Balearic Travel Agents, said that there are a number of hotels in the three resorts which have made a concerted effort this year to capture a large number of guests over Esater in order to compensate for a dull winter. On the whole, however, in comparison to the past few years, bookings are down. All of the Spanish airlines are increasing their flights between the Balearics and the mainland this weekend in anticipation of a late surge in bookings and all of the airlines are confident that they will be carrying maximum passenger loads. A number of travel agents have experienced an increase in the number of bookings for overseas Easter breaks. But there are a number of indications that the Balearics could fill up at the last minute with a sizeable proportion of the market waiting for last minute bargains. If tourism figures for last month, February, are anything to go by, 21.5 per cent more people, 317'621 in total of which 232'935 were from overseas, visited the islands.