Airlines have increased their capacity for flights from the Spanish mainland to Palma's Son Sant Joan Airport because of demand from the domestic holiday market. The rise is said in certain instances to be in the region of 20% more seats for late August and September, with the demand heightened by hotelier discount offers. These have been made because of slight falls in the UK and German markets.
While it is reported that UK and German operators have been rescheduling planes for routes to Egypt and Turkey, there has been a report saying the opposite. There is no capacity for further slots at airports, especially Turkey. This has led to some rebound in hotel bookings in Spanish resorts.
Discounts being made by hotels are reaching 25%, with the Spanish market seemingly taking the greatest advantage along with the French and Italians. Spanish tourism in Majorca is forecast to show a 15% rise for the whole year. This comes on top of three previous years in which there was a recovery in domestic tourism following the era of economic crisis.
Meanwhile, the Spanish Confederation of Hoteliers Associations is reporting that bookings for September are up in general by eight to ten per cent. And further figures come from the National Statistics Institute which reveal a decrease in hotel occupancy in July for Spain as a whole, with the regions experiencing the highest reductions having been Andalusia and Catalonia - down respectively by 4.9% and 7.2%. The Balearic drop was 1.2%. Nevertheless, the number of overnight stays increased by a similar percentage.
