BALEARICS TO MOUNT FRESH ASSAULT ON UK MARKET

PALMA
UNIMPRESSED with Easter holiday sales in the UK and on the domestic market, the Balearic Minister for Tourism, Miguel Nadal, yesterday announced that a four million euro blanket advertising campaign is going to be launched at the start of next month in both Britain and across Spain in another attempt to boost summer holiday sales.

The launch of the campaign is going to coincide with a giant three-day Balearic promotional even in Picadilly Garden in the centre of Manchester at the beginning of May and during the tourism fair, the Balearics intends to secure blanket coverage in the national newspapers while bombarding British television viewers with images of the world number one tennis player Rafael Nadal inviting them all to come and experience the islands.

The television advertising campaign has been running for a few months in Germany but it is apparently too early for tourism chiefs to say how effective it has been.

One thing is for sure, Balearic holidays have yet to shows signs of a “Nadal bounce” in Germany.
Tourism Minister Miguel Nadal said yesterday that he is not satisfied with claims that the Balearics is the region best equipped to combat the recession. “We need to continue promoting ourselves in an attempt to attract tourists this summer, we've got to keep on working and working hard,” he said.
The arrival of Easter has not been accompanied by an arrival of tourists, a large number of hotels are still not open, but, there is still some hope that there may be a sudden surge in last minute bookings over the next few days.

But, the focus is now on the peak season months of June, July and August.
The President of the Majorcan Hotel federation, Antonio Horrach, said yesterday that many of his members are worried about the situation and that visitors are extremely “price sensitive” this year. “Our target is to now fill the island up for the peak summer months - we want to match last year's target”