German tourists may be heading to Turkey rather than Majorca. | Archive

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It is not only this year's performance of the British holiday market about which there are mounting concerns in Majorca. The latest reports from the German industry also point towards a downturn, with an increasing number returning to Turkey, Greece and Egypt as they opt for cheaper destinations.

FVW, the number one source of information for German travel trade news, reported last week that German holidaymakers are heading back to Turkey. According to package holiday booking figures for January, there is a move away from high-price Spain, and sales are particularly strong for Antalya.

Bookings of package holidays with Antalya as the destination airport effectively doubled last month as German consumers regained trust in holidays in Turkey, the latest monthly figures from leading reservations provider Traveltainment showed.

The 99% surge in January, following high double-digit increases in December (+36%) and November (+49%), left Antalya in the top spot among the ten largest destination airports for German holidaymakers with a 24% share. The January booking figures confirmed recent surveys and comments from tour operators about Turkey’s strong comeback on the German market.

Egypt also performed well again last month with a very high 61% rise in bookings to Hurghada, following similar strong growth figures in December (+55%) and November (+72%). The Red Sea airport had 17% of bookings for the ten largest airports last month.

Greece continued to grow well last month on top of the previous year’s record season, the Traveltainment figures showed. There was a solid 9% increase in bookings to Heraklion airport reflecting good demand for Crete, a slight 2% rise for Rhodes and a strong 25% increase for Kos.

Turkey, Egypt and Greece are clearly benefiting at present from a trend away from Spain, where German package holiday prices are noticeably higher this year.

Demand for Majorca dropped again last month with a 15% slump in German package bookings to Palma. Majorca suffered an identical 15% fall in December as well. German bookings for the Canary Islands fell even more strongly in January, continuing the downward trend of the last few months.

The biggest destination, Fuerteventura, again fell by 8%, as in December. Las Palmas dropped by 19% in January following the previous month’s 18% decline. Tenerife (South) saw a 21% slump after a 14% fall in December, while Arrecife was down by 24% following a 21% drop in December.

There is, however, a caveat with all these figures. They are for package deals. As previous reports regarding last year have shown, German direct bookings for Majorca went up while the sale of package holidays decreased.