Airport tax hike is a “smack in the face....”

The Spanish government has already been inundated with complaints from the domestic commercial business and travel sectors but now, it is going to be bombarded with strong opposition from the UK and German tour operators and carriers. First up yesterday was easyJet whose Director General for its Spanish and Portuguese operations wrote a letter to both the government and Spanish airport authority AENA, strongly warning them against following through with the proposed average increase of 15 percent in airport taxes this summer.

And, yesterday afternoon, the Managing Director of The Monarch Travel Group, Hugh Morgan who has just returned to work from a holiday at his home in Majorca, fired a similar message in Spain's direction. “Tourists are an easy hit when there's a recession but these are complicated times and the market is still extremely price sensitive. We've had air traffic controllers striking in France with similar action in Portugal and the Canaries this week on the back of the general strike in Spain the other week which forced many Britons to simply cancel their holiday or go elsewhere. “All hiking airport taxes will do is force operators to pass the extra costs, because we are already working on narrow profit margins, on to the consumers and that will act as a deterrent so, the net result will be less people coming to Spain. “Capacity in the UK has already been reduced by eight percent by the two main tour operators and sales are down over all by ten percent compared to last year. “So, Spain's already off to a negative start with eight percent less holidays on offer. “Holiday sales to Spain are down five percent and if, come the start of peak season, airport taxes do go up as currently planned then it will be a huge smack in the face for the industry. “No one appears to have done their maths. Any such move which leads to holiday prices going up will have a detrimental affect on the market. “The government is quite simply driving a stake into the heart of the lifeblood which Spain lives on - tourism - and it's a real disappointment and something we neither expected nor could have done with this year. Especially in the UK where we've got the jubilee coming up and the Olympics and a huge drive for people to holiday at home. “It's all taxes, taxes and taxes be it in the UK, with the increase in the Air Passenger Duty, and now the hikes in Spain. “I saw how flat the market was in Majorca over Easter with 78 percent hotel occupancy of the few hotels which were open, so that was 78 percent or more or less nothing, and the hoteliers, having seen that the outlook is soft, are already flooding us with special offers because the next month or so is going top be very quiet. And, it's going to be a very late booking market, so, if on the back of the airport tax hikes, holidays to Spain and the Balearics are more expensive when people do come to book, they'll simply go somewhere else where it's cheaper” Morgan warned. “So, if hoteliers wait until the last minute to see how the demand for Majorcan holidays pans out, it could be a very short season of just four months. I think this is a big mistake.”