THE Director of the Spanish Tourist Office in London, Ignacio Vasallo, said in Palma yesterday that the Balearics needs to make a special effort to improve the image of the islands.
The Spanish Tourist Board was one of the main sponsors of this week's Future Travel convention which was held at the Sol Antillas Hotel in Magalluf. At a press conference alongside the Balearic Minister for Tourism Miguel Nadal, the Council of Majorca's Tourism chief Isabel Oliver, and Future Travel and parent company Co-operative Travel directors, Alistair Rowland, Peter Healey and Hugh Morgan, Vasallo warned the Balearics that is has got to up its game if it seriously wants to overcome the downturn in British tourists witnessed this year.
He also said that he fears the Ministry for Tourism is not going to have sufficient funds to mount adequate promotional campaigns next year. In the Balearic budget approved the day before yesterday, 70 million euros has been granted to the Ministry for Tourism.
Tourism Minister Nadal was forced to admit that his department will not be able to meet all of its targets in 2010 because the Marketing Plan is only going to have 24 million euros, much less than the expected 40 million and 10 million of that has to be shared among the three island councils.
The reason why Vasallo is recommending that the Balearics makes a greater promotional effort in the UK and give activity and business tourism greater exposure is because the number of British holiday-makers coming to the Balearics so far this year is nine percent below figures for last year at around the 2.1 million mark - a decline in line with what Vasallo and Association of British Travel Agents directors predicted back in the Spring. But, the winter market has taken a sharp dive with demand currently down by 21 percent and, at best, that should pick up to nearer 15 per cent come the end of the year.
The main reasons for this are what the Bulletin reported in yesterday's interview with Alistair Rowland.
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