Cancellations followed the UK government's quarantine announcement.

Cancellations followed the UK government's quarantine announcement.

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma05/08/2020 14:35
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According to Palma-based tourism data analysts Dingus, leading UK tour operators saw their bookings fall by up to 76% last week (by comparison with bookings for the previous week). Paula Servera of Dingus says that these tour operators reduced their "reliability percentages" for August to 22%; these being analyses of the real percentages of cancellations and confirmation of sales.

At the start of this week, the rate of cancellations for Spain was 61%, which was fractionally better than it had been ten days previously, when it was 64%. In the some 1,200 hotels in 25 countries linked to Dingus, the announcement of the UK quarantine provoked cancellations and halted reservations. Around 40% of cancellations were made between Monday and Tuesday last week.

As well as tour operators, online travel agencies recorded increases in cancellations last week. At the same time, however, direct sales and channels such as Booking.com "exceeded confirmed reservations, even by comparison with the same period of last year, and so managed to compensate for the collapse".

Over the past month, the CEO of Dingus, Jaume Monserrat, says that the Balearics have experienced a 50% decrease in bookings, overnight stays and sales turnover. He attributes this to the drop in the UK market last week in particular. For September and October, he suggests that the decline is especially noticeable, although the reliability percentage is 34%.

Formentera and Minorca suffered the most cancellations last week - 78% and 71% respectively - with Majorca at 66% and Ibiza 63%.