WELL, this is it, the first real test for the Balearic tourist industry of the summer with state schools breaking up for their holidays in Britain today and nearly two million Britons booked to come overseas this weekend.
This weekend is one of the major getaway weekends for the year and with the great British weather proving as unpredictable as ever ABTA, the Association of British Travel Agents, estimates that 1.9 million of us will be heading overseas this weekend 23-26 July.
Traffic through the main airports will be very busy with 440'000 leaving from Heathrow, 250'000 from Gatwick, 139'000 from Stansted, 150'00 from Manchester, 65'000 from Birmingham, and 65'000 from Luton. 127'000 will leave from the main Scottish airports, Edinburgh and Glasgow. In addition hundreds of thousands will be heading out through regional airports.
Top destinations for short haul include Turkey, Greece, Egypt, the Canary Islands, the Balearics and mainland Spain. Long haul destinations Dubai and Florida are also popular.
The pound offers better value against the euro than last year and for those who have not booked yet, the Bulletin has learnt that there is still availability and excellent deals on offer to Britain's traditional Eurozone favourites such as here in Majorca. The recession has also caused many restaurants and bars in the Eurozone to lower their prices, making days and nights out that bit cheaper.
According to Abta, Spain is still the UK's number one destination with the Balearics selling better. Turkey and Egypt have seen significant growth and the USA has performed better than many of its competitors. All inclusive holidays are proving especially popular with families looking to control budgets. John McEwan, ABTA Chairman said: I am delighted to see hundreds of thousands of us heading overseas this weekend, the traditional curtain raiser to the summer season.
With prices having fallen in the Eurozone and an improved exchange rate on last year, holidaymakers will get a pleasant surprise when they arrive in resort and head for local restaurants and bars
But, Hugh Morgan, the new MD of Tour Operations for the Monarch Travel Group said this week that while their flights down to Spain and the Balearics are full, the majority of the passengers are flight only.
It's still not happening for the family package market down there (the Balearics) and for the first time ever, we've got hotels on the south of Majorca prepared to let rooms go at any price, what we call a free sale.
The total UK holiday market is down four percent on last year but it is a very late booking market. Year-on-year, mainland Spain is down by nine percent and the Balearics ten percent but, one must remember that Turkey may well be full, if not over booked, but it has far less capacity, so the numbers heading to Spain and the Balearics are going to be higher than Turkey. One surprise has been the demise of Greece, the latest week-on-week booking figures show they are down by 13 percent, he added.
Week-on-week, the Balearics is up by two percent, so that shows that there has been some pick up in demand but we're nearly into August and we've got desperate hoteliers, he underlined.
The trend appears to be that all inclusives are the winners this year and package holidays the losers, he added.
However, aware of the lack of capacity in Greece and Turkey, Spanish tourism industry bosses this week revealed that they are expecting a very late, last minute surge in demand for Spanish and Balearics holidays because of the over booking problems which are going to hit Turkey in particular.
Let us hope they are right.
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