Tourism needs to transmit a more positive message

Yesterday the director of the Spanish tourist board, Germán Porras, urged the Balearics and the country's other top destinations “to transmit positive messages” to the key satellite holiday markets. He admitted that while holidays bookings will not match last year's figures, but said that the French, Dutch and Italian markets are responding well and that there has been yet another increase in the UK last minute market -although the latest figures indicate that ten per cent less Britons intend to take a holiday overseas this summer. Holiday sales in Germany remain flat, down between ten and 15 per cent, but the tourist board wants the top resorts to broadcast a positive image “that anything and everything is possible while on holiday in Spain.” “We will not match last year's figures, but we can still improve the situation,” he said yesterday.