WORRIED about growing competition from Eastern Mediterranean resorts, the Balearics head for Scandinavia next week, but perhaps it should be taking stock of where the British have been holidaying this year and where they want to go next year.
The number of Britons coming to Spain this year has fallen by 18 percent with the Balearics down by a little over three percent and, while destinations likes Croatia and Bulgaria are only taking a small chip at the Balearics' UK market, the rest of the world is taking a major swipe.
As the Bulletin reported last week, summer 2005 holiday sales are already up one percent and should be up by five percent come Christmas. The Balearics is tipped to remain the UK's top Euro zone destination, but non-Euro zone and long haul destinations are booming along with the cruise market with growth at an impressive 35 percent for next year.
The growth areas for UK tour operators this year have been long haul and separate component holiday accommodation or flight only. However the dip has been in short-haul Western European holidays although the Spanish resurgence the Associatiuon of British Travel Agents told the Bulletin about last week, has been confirmed by the tour operators.
However, the big growth market is cruises. Last year, according to Passenger Association report, cruise passengers breached the one million benchmark and strong growth is forecast for next year encouraged by a slight dip in average prices. The most impressive growth has been in the non-air cruises, cruises and mini-cruises leaving UK ports.
The main reason for this is that, while the average cost of a cruise starting in the UK next year has fallen by around £292, according to ABTA, the price of an average short haul seven day air-cruise has risen by 163 percent in some cases, a market swing destinations like Palma should be aware of.
The Balearics can not ignore the fact that more and more Britons are travelling long haul, away from the increasingly expensive Euro zone.
More and more travel agents are catering for either late bookers or clients looking for tailor-made long haul trips.
The biggest British boom this year has been in Egypt where UK tourism figures have risen by 163 percent. The other big non-Eurozone destinations were Bulgaria, Croatia and Morocco while long haul, the United Arab Emirates, fuelled by the Dubai tourism boom, has reported a 108 percent increase in British holidaymakers.
Malaysia and Cuba have also done very well this year. To the contrary, EU Europe has suffered, in particular Spain, Greece and Portugal.
A recent MORI survey found that 95 percent of Britons thought their holiday was good value for money and 88 percent said they were either certain to or very likely to take another package holiday in the next twelve months. So the Balearics can only blame itself for a further drop in British visitors as the UK is still going on holiday.
No comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
Currently there are no comments.