Spain is among the most sought-after destinations in the world by tourists for this Easter, as highlighted in the presentation of travel forecasts to Spain made today by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism and ForwardKeys, a leading global Spanish company in traveller analysis.
“The year 2022 has started with a sustained recovery in tourism, as shown by the data from the hotel occupancy survey with 24.1 million overnight stays between January and February, 72% of the pre-pandemic level, or the employment data recorded in February. an increase of more than 300,000 affiliates compared to its level in 2021. A positive evolution despite the uncertainty generated by the omicron variant that occurs because Spain is perceived in our main markets as a safe destination due to the high vaccination rate of the population”, said the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto.
The head of tourism has also referred to the consequences of Putin’s war and the Response Plan approved by the Government that is going to mobilize 16,000 million euros in public aid, a plan that aims to reduce energy costs, help the most affected companies and groups and generate confidence in the Spanish economy. Although all sectors are affected by the uncertainty of the war, including the tourism sector, according to our forecasts in April we can recover between 80% of the international tourists that we had in 2019. However, we must be cautious since the evolution in the next few months will depend on the duration of the war and how it may affect confidence in travel“
Maroto has also highlighted that the ministry continues with the deployment of the Tourist Modernization and Competitiveness Plan financed with the Next Generation funds and has announced that today the extraordinary call for 2022 of the Tourism Sustainability Plans in destinations endowed with 720 million euros is opened. The objective of the program is to advance in the transformation of tourist destinations towards a model based on environmental, socioeconomic and territorial sustainability.
Data ForwardKeys
Taking into account the geopolitical situation caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the uneven pace of recovery of destinations in the world, Spain is well-positioned for Easter, being one of the most recovered global destinations in terms of international arrivals.
The latest ForwardKeys air booking issuance data for international arrivals to Spain at Easter shows an optimistic outlook. Air arrivals from abroad to Spain are expected to be only 13% below the values of Easter 2019, while domestic air travel is on par with pre-pandemic values, just 1% under.
“Throughout the pandemic, we have seen a lot of frustrated demand, which has translated into renewed interest from travellers every time restrictions allowed travel again; In this new phase of the pandemic, Spain is rapidly recovering to the point where it is close to the values prior to the start of the crisis. This Easter we expect traditional markets of origin such as the United Kingdom or Germany to exceed the levels of arrivals prior to the pandemic”, pointed out Juan A. Gómez García, Head of Market Intelligence at ForwardKeys.
Most recovered main markets
The most recovered main source markets that will travel to Spain this Easter include Denmark (+44%), Sweden (+39%) and Colombia (+37%), followed by Germany (+26%) and the United Kingdom (+13 %), all exceeding pre-pandemic levels. The favourite destinations for foreign travellers will be the Balearic Islands (+14%), the Canary Islands (-3%) and the Valencian Community (-3%), with Ibiza (+34%), Palma (+12%) and Tenerife ( +7%) leading the ranking of Spanish cities that recover the most travellers, all growing with respect to 2019.
“We still don’t expect things to be like they were before the pandemic, but some markets are clearly exceeding our initial expectations. Our data also shows that the length of stay has increased slightly and that groups of 3 to 5 people will increase their market share as opposed to couples and large groups”, adds Gómez.
Airlines have scheduled only 7% fewer seats for international flights to Spain for the holiday period than at the same time in 2019. Some destinations such as Fuerteventura (+17%), Ibiza (+16%), Tenerife (+11% ) and Palma (+3%) will have more seats than in pre-pandemic times.
