Private jet traffic grew 5.6% in May and increased by 35.6% in June, surpassing all AENA forecasts in the General Aviation Sector.
According to the Fundació Mallorca Turisme del Consell and the Employers' Association, Essentially Mallorca, the island is currently registering a significant market share of Central European, Nordic, British, French and German luxury tourists because of Covid.
“We must take advantage this conjuncture to retain them in the coming years,” said Insular Minister of Tourism, Andreu Serra.
“The luxury segment opts to come to Mallorca because it’s a safe destination, hence the arrival of this niche market with high purchasing power maintains high occupations in all services related to luxury tourism,” said Essentially Mallorca Luxury Association President, Jesus Cuartero.
“This tourism has had a positive and resilient evolution in Mallorca and now, with Covid-19 the trend continues,” added Councillor Andreu Serra. “The Island has everything and the coronavirus crisis has not had a negative impact.
The Fundació Mallorca Turisme explained that Mallorca has adapted better to the threats of emerging markets, exceeded the price-quality ratio of competing destinations, based its growth on the improvement of companies in the Sector and the value of tourism.”
The luxury segment in Mallorca and the rest of the Islands represents around 1,000 million euros in sales and equals around 15% of the national total and the luxury tourist has an average expenditure of around 5,000 euros per day. Luxury tourists are characterised as a married, aged 40-50, with children, with an average annual income of more than 150,000 euros and a very good education.
Local products and gastronomy are the goods most in demand.
"This type of tourist seeks exclusivity, personalisation and everything that implies the authenticity of the island of Mallorca,” says Cuartero.
Sectors
A fact that confirms the forecast of the Consell and Essentially Mallorca is the evolution this summer of the arrival of private jets at Palma airport.
The AENA General Aviation statistics for May and June are more than symptomatic of this evolution of luxury tourism.
In May the arrival of private jets and air taxis grew by 5.6% compared to the same month in 2019, with a total of 1,662 movements and the number of passengers increased by 55% or 4,410.
In June, all General Aviation forecasts were broken, private air traffic grew by 35% or 1,835 and 46.3%, with 4,371 luxury passengers.
According to the Luxury Sector Employers' Association, that’s down to destination security, the island's hotel infrastructures, the proximity of the main European capitals and, fundamentally, “because these types of tourists seek exclusivity, personalisation and authentic Mallorcan gastronomy, services and they want large spaces away from crowds.”
“We are in a new world economic scenario, with a new demand and a client with new preferences and different values. A demanding client who values safe destinations, who will look for healthy products and demand sustainable and healthy experiences, with quality, local products. This is what luxury tourism companies provide in Mallorca,” said Jesus Cuartero.
The Consell’s strategy is to turn Mallorca into the headquarters of the main luxury tourism fair in Europe in 2022. The 'Do not Disturb' fair, has the support of the Consell, the Essentially Mallorca Association and the Palacio de Congresos.
In June, Palma airport recorded a 1004% increase in the arrival of passengers or 1,408,600 and a movement of 13,662 aircraft, which is 497.6% more than in 2020.
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The Balearic Islands has a more exciting, sustainable, future with greater emphasis on premium / luxury tourism. Therefore the evidence that such tourists are increasingly visiting the Balearics is encouraging...we must hope that the Balearic government acknowledges the value of this business and sees that this sector has more potential for the future rather than wasting money on mass market promotions and pandering to the demands of the mass market tour operators...however, I suspect that this is more to do with political ideology rather than economic pragmatism, something that this current government is sorely lacking in.