Mallorca and the Balearics are an economic curiosity. Even compared to the principal tourism competitors in Spain - the Canaries, Andalusia, Valencia and Catalonia - this curiosity is at its most extreme. Nowhere else in Spain has the same weighting in favour of the tourism economy in GDP figures.
The dominance of this economy breeds its own curiosities. Just one of these is the high profile given to the manufacturers of this economy. Where economies and societies are more diverse, and so therefore more balanced, this profile is lessened. The words, thoughts and deeds of industrialists, financiers and others are reported, but they do not have the same power. The manufacturers of the Mallorcan economy speak as if they are the scribes of tablets of stone. They don't tend to utter commandments, but their words are spoken with an intention that they are not ignored. They don't command the economy as such, but they hold it within their hands to be able to do so.
This command does, however, undergo phases when it is diluted. Mallorca has experienced such a phase in recent years. Just as the Mallorcan economy would really be better served by not having the 40%-plus direct GDP reliance it has on tourism, so these economic manufacturers don't wish to have a reliance that creeps over the 40% level.
Thomas Cook is one of these manufacturers: one of the most powerful. In 2017, its sales for Spain as a whole have been 42%. Mallorca, despite what was said by tour operators before and and at times during the last season about prices, has been at the heart of this 42%. Thomas Cook was one of those tour operators. It spoke darkly about the upping of prices, as though there were a veiled threat.
The ideal, where Thomas Cook is concerned, would be to have around 30% of its sales in the Spanish market; historically this has been the sort of ballpark. This means a better distribution and a better balance. It also means that it is not being held over a barrel in quite the same way, because that was what happened as a result of the major increase in demand for Mallorca and Spain, which was the consequence of instability elsewhere.
Representatives of Thomas Cook, Tui and other tour operators as well as leading hoteliers are frequently quoted in the local media. They hold a position almost on a a par with politicians. They are a reflection of the curious Balearic economy, one that they manufactured. They demand to be quoted, they demand to be listened to. And they are; in a way that they wouldn't be elsewhere. Mallorca is the perfect publicity patch for the tourism economy's manufacturers, and this publicity spreads beyond the island's waters.
When the tour operators were moaning about increased prices, what were they really after? Well, lower prices perhaps, but by drawing the attention they did to prices, there would have been an underlying hope that they could effect a shift in demand. More stable politics in other destinations are granting them this wish, but they were nonetheless seeking a return to the greater balance that previously existed. When sales were at a balanced 30%, the hoteliers were not holding them over a barrel.
But although they were wanting to reduce this dependence, at the same time they couldn't afford to distance themselves. Consequently, having complained about prices and having dropped the hints about reviving destinations (hints now turning into fact), they then started to praise. Mallorca's hoteliers, Spain's hoteliers have really made an effort. They have invested well and wisely. They can justify their prices.
For all the talk about rival destinations, tour operators know as well as anyone that they can't live without Mallorca and Spain. Those other destinations don't have the kind of capacity and infrastructure. There will also be ongoing holidaymaker wariness. Not about Bulgaria, Croatia or Greece, but about those countries where things could suddenly get nasty again. Three hundred or so slain in Egypt is a reminder.
In 2018, the expectation, the hope for Thomas Cook is that sales in Spain will move back towards that more acceptable 30%. The prices are, nevertheless, still going up, and don't holidaymakers just know it, as the tour operators reflect these in their own margin calculations. But in 2019, so it is said, this situation will change. The prices are not sustainable in the face of renewed competition.
We will see. And we will also hear. It is extraordinary but it is not so extraordinary that there can be the kind of almost weekly feed of what tour operators and major tourism sector players think. The monoculture of tourism in Mallorca allows these thoughts to flourish and to constantly reinforce the curiosity of the economy. But behind these thoughts, we should sometimes stop and ask ourselves exactly why they are being expressed.
Showing posts with label Hotel prices. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hotel prices. Show all posts
Monday, November 27, 2017
Thursday, August 31, 2017
The Price Behind The Occupancy
Five years ago, the then vice-president of the Mallorca Hoteliers Federation, Inma Benito, spoke about the economy being "broken" because of the August hotel occupancy rate. It was around 90%. Benito said that it should be much higher, even implying that it should be 100%. She would have known, as anyone in the industry knows, that there is no such thing as 100%. Some hotels maybe, but across the board it never happens.
The hotel occupancy rate is an indicator that needs to be considered with care. It's important but behind the rate there are factors that have to be taken into account. It is also important to distinguish between forecasts and actual. Talk of a five per cent decline in occupancy in September is forecast talk. The real figure won't be known until late on next month. Moreover, the forecast itself didn't chime with the figures from the Balearic Statistics Institute. For September last year it showed an occupancy rate of 85.94, almost identical therefore to the 85% being forecast for this September. How can there therefore be a five per cent drop? It probably depends on what statistical base is adopted. If the hoteliers have a different one, then there needs to be an explanation as to the variance.
That 86%, was about as good as it has ever been for a Mallorca September. The year before it was 83.4%. If the hoteliers are right, and the rate is around 85% this year, then it would still represent a very positive figure. But as I say, the hoteliers seem to be operating from an alternative base.
The point about occupancy is, quite obviously, that it is a ratio linked to the number of rooms and beds. A further point - also obvious - is that occupancy applies to the full range of hotels and so therefore to their star categories and their prices. Both of these points, however obvious they are, can easily be overlooked.
As part of the modernisation process of Mallorca's hotels, some have added rooms. The 2012 tourism law facilitated this. More rooms mean more beds mean higher potential occupancy. The process is only now drawing to a conclusion.
So one has to be aware that in certain instances one isn't comparing like with like because of an increased number of rooms. A further ingredient in the modernisation process has been the upgrading of star categories. There are now that many more four-star superior and five-star hotels. There have never been as many. And it is with these hotels where occupancy can begin to look potentially troublesome. The much-vaunted quality has risen and so has the price.
In July the occupancy of these top-notch hotels was no better than it had been the previous year. Forecasts (always forecasts) had anticipated that they would be better, but they weren't. August is likely to have shown no difference. In September, well in September might it be that a fall in occupancy, if it truly emerges, is in this high-end sector? The problem is that one doesn't get an accurate picture because the occupancy rate is a catch-all.
The experience in Ibiza is particularly startling. Several hotels at the high end were only scraping 60% occupancy in July. To put this figure into context, the July occupancy for Ibiza and Formentera last year was 88%, below Mallorca's 91.35. It now emerges that there are current offers of up to 30% off for some hotels in Ibiza, with the high end among those making the offers. The president of the Council of Ibiza, Vicent Torres Benet, who has specific responsibility for tourism, says the season has not been as had been anticipated, and that's because of prices.
Ibiza isn't the same as Mallorca in that its hotel occupancy is typically lower, but it does act as a barometer. While Mallorca's hoteliers can point to increased revenues, courtesy of higher prices, a further key indicator for them - the RevPar revenue per available room - may just start to go into reverse. The price is up but the take-up is lower.
Yet for all this, we had a situation in July where occupancy in Mallorca (based on overnight stays) outstripped everywhere else in Spain with the possible exception of Benidorm. In Andalusia, Costa del Sol and all, there was an average occupancy of 67% compared with the 90% plus in Mallorca. And this is for a region which spends healthy sums of money on promotion, the opposite to what happens in Mallorca.
September's occupancy is something of a red herring, but lurking behind it is the issue of price and not just the price for the high end. It's next year we should be looking at. It is suggested that the strength of the Mallorca "brand" can withstand most that it is thrown at it. This may be so, but what about the prices?
The hotel occupancy rate is an indicator that needs to be considered with care. It's important but behind the rate there are factors that have to be taken into account. It is also important to distinguish between forecasts and actual. Talk of a five per cent decline in occupancy in September is forecast talk. The real figure won't be known until late on next month. Moreover, the forecast itself didn't chime with the figures from the Balearic Statistics Institute. For September last year it showed an occupancy rate of 85.94, almost identical therefore to the 85% being forecast for this September. How can there therefore be a five per cent drop? It probably depends on what statistical base is adopted. If the hoteliers have a different one, then there needs to be an explanation as to the variance.
That 86%, was about as good as it has ever been for a Mallorca September. The year before it was 83.4%. If the hoteliers are right, and the rate is around 85% this year, then it would still represent a very positive figure. But as I say, the hoteliers seem to be operating from an alternative base.
The point about occupancy is, quite obviously, that it is a ratio linked to the number of rooms and beds. A further point - also obvious - is that occupancy applies to the full range of hotels and so therefore to their star categories and their prices. Both of these points, however obvious they are, can easily be overlooked.
As part of the modernisation process of Mallorca's hotels, some have added rooms. The 2012 tourism law facilitated this. More rooms mean more beds mean higher potential occupancy. The process is only now drawing to a conclusion.
So one has to be aware that in certain instances one isn't comparing like with like because of an increased number of rooms. A further ingredient in the modernisation process has been the upgrading of star categories. There are now that many more four-star superior and five-star hotels. There have never been as many. And it is with these hotels where occupancy can begin to look potentially troublesome. The much-vaunted quality has risen and so has the price.
In July the occupancy of these top-notch hotels was no better than it had been the previous year. Forecasts (always forecasts) had anticipated that they would be better, but they weren't. August is likely to have shown no difference. In September, well in September might it be that a fall in occupancy, if it truly emerges, is in this high-end sector? The problem is that one doesn't get an accurate picture because the occupancy rate is a catch-all.
The experience in Ibiza is particularly startling. Several hotels at the high end were only scraping 60% occupancy in July. To put this figure into context, the July occupancy for Ibiza and Formentera last year was 88%, below Mallorca's 91.35. It now emerges that there are current offers of up to 30% off for some hotels in Ibiza, with the high end among those making the offers. The president of the Council of Ibiza, Vicent Torres Benet, who has specific responsibility for tourism, says the season has not been as had been anticipated, and that's because of prices.
Ibiza isn't the same as Mallorca in that its hotel occupancy is typically lower, but it does act as a barometer. While Mallorca's hoteliers can point to increased revenues, courtesy of higher prices, a further key indicator for them - the RevPar revenue per available room - may just start to go into reverse. The price is up but the take-up is lower.
Yet for all this, we had a situation in July where occupancy in Mallorca (based on overnight stays) outstripped everywhere else in Spain with the possible exception of Benidorm. In Andalusia, Costa del Sol and all, there was an average occupancy of 67% compared with the 90% plus in Mallorca. And this is for a region which spends healthy sums of money on promotion, the opposite to what happens in Mallorca.
September's occupancy is something of a red herring, but lurking behind it is the issue of price and not just the price for the high end. It's next year we should be looking at. It is suggested that the strength of the Mallorca "brand" can withstand most that it is thrown at it. This may be so, but what about the prices?
Saturday, August 26, 2017
Tour Operators Holding Off On Hotel Contracts
Yesterday, I finished by mentioning that I had a startling "fact". This fact, as stated by Preferente magazine, concerns tour operator contracts with Mallorcan hotels for 2018. Negotiations for these contracts started, as they always do, around May time. At present, it is said that there are contracts for 15% of the available hotel offer. This is the fact. Why is it startling? In the recent past, such as last year, 80% of the offer had been signed up by now.
The reason for this massive discrepancy is simple. It's the price being demanded by the hotels. Mallorca isn't alone in Spain in setting higher hotel prices but generally speaking it is the pace-setter. Preferente adds that it is difficult to recall a precedent for the current contract negotiation situation. The tour operators believe that prices are exorbitant.
This doesn't mean they won't end up signing contracts. Mallorca has in its favour its capacity. Holiday demand is such that Mallorca will get its way, though it would be a surprise - given the current status - if the contracts matched those of this year. In order for that to happen, there will need to be some give on behalf of the hoteliers. But then one should bear in mind that tour operators were complaining about the prices this year.
Despite the prices as they are this year, figures for July show that hotel occupancy - in terms of overnight stays - was higher in Palma-Calvia than anywhere else in the country. (Palma and Calvia, for the purposes of this statistical exercise, are treated as one zone.) The rate was 92.1%. The number of stays was up by one per cent and prices rose by 6.9%.
So, things for the moment seem hunky-dory. It is 2018 that we have to consider. The revival of competitor destinations will be welcomed by the tour operators, and one only has to look at hotel performance figures to see why. In July (and these are numbers for Spain as a whole), the average daily rate (ADR) was 129 euros. The RevPar (revenue per available room) was 104 euros. In Turkey the ADR was 80 euros. The RevPar was 56 euros.
For tour operators, these types of difference are hugely attractive. And when one seeks to compare Mallorca (and Spain) with the non-EU destinations of Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia and anywhere else, there is an additional and potentially important factor to take into account for next year. The EU's latest directive on package holidays will kick in. Because of increased tour operator liability to compensate for (legitimate) failures, the prices of packages will rise.
In one respect, the tour operators are to blame for the hikes in Mallorca's hotel prices. Because of disruptions elsewhere, they were buying up every available bed in Mallorca in order to meet holiday demand. Inevitably, the rule of supply and demand kicked in. Big time. Moreover, Mallorca's hotels were wanting returns on their modernisation investments. The tour operators had been demanding modernisation.
Over the past few years, because of the insecurity elsewhere, the traditional model was disrupted. The tour operators have essentially always ruled the roost. They have forced prices in seeking to maximise their profits. The hoteliers saw an opportunity to amend that model, and it could work under conditions of instability in other lands. A correction in holiday supply is now under way. The hoteliers are therefore banking on their investments in quality to demand and maintain increased prices. They are also banking on demand for Mallorca and on the island's security. Barcelona, although I don't believe it will have much of an effect, will at least have shaken the hoteliers. And there is something else lurking in the background: the negotiations for hotel worker salaries. Mallorca's hoteliers are under great pressure to come to a settlement that is advantageous to their employees.
It is clear that the cost of package holidays for next year has gone up in general. In some instances it has risen significantly. Holidaymakers, savvy consumers that they are, can bypass the package holiday, which - much to the tour operators' delight - rebounded markedly during the years of economic crisis. Buying the separate components of a holiday usually means that the overall cost is lower. The online booking agencies such as Travel Republic are being scrutinised closely.
We'll see how the contract negotiations pan out. But for now, 15% versus 80% is a massive difference.
The reason for this massive discrepancy is simple. It's the price being demanded by the hotels. Mallorca isn't alone in Spain in setting higher hotel prices but generally speaking it is the pace-setter. Preferente adds that it is difficult to recall a precedent for the current contract negotiation situation. The tour operators believe that prices are exorbitant.
This doesn't mean they won't end up signing contracts. Mallorca has in its favour its capacity. Holiday demand is such that Mallorca will get its way, though it would be a surprise - given the current status - if the contracts matched those of this year. In order for that to happen, there will need to be some give on behalf of the hoteliers. But then one should bear in mind that tour operators were complaining about the prices this year.
Despite the prices as they are this year, figures for July show that hotel occupancy - in terms of overnight stays - was higher in Palma-Calvia than anywhere else in the country. (Palma and Calvia, for the purposes of this statistical exercise, are treated as one zone.) The rate was 92.1%. The number of stays was up by one per cent and prices rose by 6.9%.
So, things for the moment seem hunky-dory. It is 2018 that we have to consider. The revival of competitor destinations will be welcomed by the tour operators, and one only has to look at hotel performance figures to see why. In July (and these are numbers for Spain as a whole), the average daily rate (ADR) was 129 euros. The RevPar (revenue per available room) was 104 euros. In Turkey the ADR was 80 euros. The RevPar was 56 euros.
For tour operators, these types of difference are hugely attractive. And when one seeks to compare Mallorca (and Spain) with the non-EU destinations of Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia and anywhere else, there is an additional and potentially important factor to take into account for next year. The EU's latest directive on package holidays will kick in. Because of increased tour operator liability to compensate for (legitimate) failures, the prices of packages will rise.
In one respect, the tour operators are to blame for the hikes in Mallorca's hotel prices. Because of disruptions elsewhere, they were buying up every available bed in Mallorca in order to meet holiday demand. Inevitably, the rule of supply and demand kicked in. Big time. Moreover, Mallorca's hotels were wanting returns on their modernisation investments. The tour operators had been demanding modernisation.
Over the past few years, because of the insecurity elsewhere, the traditional model was disrupted. The tour operators have essentially always ruled the roost. They have forced prices in seeking to maximise their profits. The hoteliers saw an opportunity to amend that model, and it could work under conditions of instability in other lands. A correction in holiday supply is now under way. The hoteliers are therefore banking on their investments in quality to demand and maintain increased prices. They are also banking on demand for Mallorca and on the island's security. Barcelona, although I don't believe it will have much of an effect, will at least have shaken the hoteliers. And there is something else lurking in the background: the negotiations for hotel worker salaries. Mallorca's hoteliers are under great pressure to come to a settlement that is advantageous to their employees.
It is clear that the cost of package holidays for next year has gone up in general. In some instances it has risen significantly. Holidaymakers, savvy consumers that they are, can bypass the package holiday, which - much to the tour operators' delight - rebounded markedly during the years of economic crisis. Buying the separate components of a holiday usually means that the overall cost is lower. The online booking agencies such as Travel Republic are being scrutinised closely.
We'll see how the contract negotiations pan out. But for now, 15% versus 80% is a massive difference.
Sunday, March 12, 2017
The Former Tui State Of Mallorca
I don't wish to alarm anyone, but war has been declared against Mallorca. You may not have noticed as this is a war that exists in its own separate Mallorcan universe, the inhabitants of which are tour operators and hoteliers. You will also be less than familiar with some of the names. They include, inter alia, Baumert, Frankenberg and Müller. These are among the commandants of the massed ranks of German tour operators who issued the Declaration of War in Berlin the other day. But you don't need to be too worried. They're not about to invade. Precisely the opposite.
The German occupation of Mallorca, which has existed for some fifty years, is drawing to a close. German tourists will cease to be. At last! Sun lounger liberation. The policy of "Sunbedsraum" is going into reverse. And once the retreat has been completed, Mallorca will be wholly de-saturated, save for the last remaining Brits before Brexit pulls down the shutters on their fifty-plus years of Mallorcan occupation as well. Resorts will become all-year ghost towns. The transformation of Magalluf will be another transformation. Tumbleweed will roll along the boulevard. Weeds will grow on the poolsides. Wild goats will come from the hills and colonise BCM.
Well, not quite all year, as Mallorca will sustain itself by being "Better in Winter" (registered slogan, reproduced courtesy of the Balearic Tourism Agency). The tourism ministry, which must surely be about to be renamed the Barceló Ministry of Sustainability, will have its wish. Pensioners will be warmly greeted at the airport, which will come under Balearic government co-management and see to it that flights will in any event be reduced by some three-quarters. These wintering pensioners, when not drowning in a January flood, will discover how much better Mallorca is in winter by being whisked off to Algaida to be given instruction in all things Ramon Llull. The occasional cyclist may pass them by, all the others having been warned off a Mallorca tainted by Team Sky brown packages.
German tourists, you see, prefer to go on holiday to actual war zones. Or at least to places where terrorism has seemingly become a tourist attraction. This is one of the conclusions of Tui, Thomas Cook, DER, Alltours and the rest. The Berlin Declaration of War makes it clear that Mallorca's hoteliers are to blame. Their prices are so high, so exorbitant that not a single German can afford to come to Mallorca. Ditto all other tourists, except the winter pensioners on subsidised deals.
There was, it must be said, something slightly peculiar about this declaration. This was the fact that before it was made last week in Berlin, the massed ranks of German tour operators had been insisting that Mallorca was all but sold out for this summer. Moreover, such was the motivation to head off to terrorism tourist attractions that sales to Turkey had barely scraped past the 30% mark.
All very weird, but not if you are a German tour operator (or any other one) who has no wish to meet the price demands of avaricious hoteliers. And there we were, thinking that it was the British tour operators who were aghast at the prices (well, they are more or less the same tour operators anyway). But the hoteliers can't really be blamed. They do after all need all the Mallorcan profit they can muster in order to invest it in Aruba and Vietnam.
Somewhat redundant in all this war declaration were the representatives of Balearic administrations, such as Barceló and Hila. In fact, they would have been hiding in the shadows lest they were spied fraternising with the hoteliers. With hoteliers putting prices up sky high, the Ministry of Sustainability is having its work done for it. There'll be no need for tourist limits, as there won't be any tourists anyway. Job done, albeit there'll be a hole in the tourist tax budget.
Moreover, the Minister of Sustainability will have been heartened by environmentalists GOB warning any German tourists who might be dithering in their choice between IS and Illetas that saturation is such that they will be trampled underfoot because of touristic "massification" this summer. Which of course they won't be, as there won't be any tourists, if one follows the logic of the tour operators' declaration, which one shouldn't.
Might this apocalyptic vision come to pass? Nah. Not a bit of it. Berlin was the stage for some propaganda, which has become the purpose for holding travel/tourism fairs (remember the tourist tax propaganda in London in 2015?). It'll all be forgotten by Easter, when the stories will be about rat-arsed Germans in Playa de Palma being chased by local police waving fines for anti-social behaviour. Sunbedsraum will never cease.
The German occupation of Mallorca, which has existed for some fifty years, is drawing to a close. German tourists will cease to be. At last! Sun lounger liberation. The policy of "Sunbedsraum" is going into reverse. And once the retreat has been completed, Mallorca will be wholly de-saturated, save for the last remaining Brits before Brexit pulls down the shutters on their fifty-plus years of Mallorcan occupation as well. Resorts will become all-year ghost towns. The transformation of Magalluf will be another transformation. Tumbleweed will roll along the boulevard. Weeds will grow on the poolsides. Wild goats will come from the hills and colonise BCM.
Well, not quite all year, as Mallorca will sustain itself by being "Better in Winter" (registered slogan, reproduced courtesy of the Balearic Tourism Agency). The tourism ministry, which must surely be about to be renamed the Barceló Ministry of Sustainability, will have its wish. Pensioners will be warmly greeted at the airport, which will come under Balearic government co-management and see to it that flights will in any event be reduced by some three-quarters. These wintering pensioners, when not drowning in a January flood, will discover how much better Mallorca is in winter by being whisked off to Algaida to be given instruction in all things Ramon Llull. The occasional cyclist may pass them by, all the others having been warned off a Mallorca tainted by Team Sky brown packages.
German tourists, you see, prefer to go on holiday to actual war zones. Or at least to places where terrorism has seemingly become a tourist attraction. This is one of the conclusions of Tui, Thomas Cook, DER, Alltours and the rest. The Berlin Declaration of War makes it clear that Mallorca's hoteliers are to blame. Their prices are so high, so exorbitant that not a single German can afford to come to Mallorca. Ditto all other tourists, except the winter pensioners on subsidised deals.
There was, it must be said, something slightly peculiar about this declaration. This was the fact that before it was made last week in Berlin, the massed ranks of German tour operators had been insisting that Mallorca was all but sold out for this summer. Moreover, such was the motivation to head off to terrorism tourist attractions that sales to Turkey had barely scraped past the 30% mark.
All very weird, but not if you are a German tour operator (or any other one) who has no wish to meet the price demands of avaricious hoteliers. And there we were, thinking that it was the British tour operators who were aghast at the prices (well, they are more or less the same tour operators anyway). But the hoteliers can't really be blamed. They do after all need all the Mallorcan profit they can muster in order to invest it in Aruba and Vietnam.
Somewhat redundant in all this war declaration were the representatives of Balearic administrations, such as Barceló and Hila. In fact, they would have been hiding in the shadows lest they were spied fraternising with the hoteliers. With hoteliers putting prices up sky high, the Ministry of Sustainability is having its work done for it. There'll be no need for tourist limits, as there won't be any tourists anyway. Job done, albeit there'll be a hole in the tourist tax budget.
Moreover, the Minister of Sustainability will have been heartened by environmentalists GOB warning any German tourists who might be dithering in their choice between IS and Illetas that saturation is such that they will be trampled underfoot because of touristic "massification" this summer. Which of course they won't be, as there won't be any tourists, if one follows the logic of the tour operators' declaration, which one shouldn't.
Might this apocalyptic vision come to pass? Nah. Not a bit of it. Berlin was the stage for some propaganda, which has become the purpose for holding travel/tourism fairs (remember the tourist tax propaganda in London in 2015?). It'll all be forgotten by Easter, when the stories will be about rat-arsed Germans in Playa de Palma being chased by local police waving fines for anti-social behaviour. Sunbedsraum will never cease.
Saturday, October 29, 2016
Upping Prices And Getting Away With Them
Despite talk that there was no furore about the tourist tax at the major European travel fairs last time round, it would be very wrong to believe that in private Balearic government representatives were not getting an earbashing. They got it. The Mallorca Hoteliers Federation largely kept a lid on things by not making public statements either. Too many were fooled into believing there was "normality", when there wasn't. The federation, for example, knew that drawing attention to the tax in overly vociferous terms could have been counterproductive. It has of course now taken the tax to court.
The round of fairs begins shortly. London's World Travel Market is the first (7-9 November) ¡, and one suspects that there are going to be some more choice words, with the hoteliers more in the firing-line. If the attitude of Sebastian Darder of the Palmanova-Magalluf hoteliers association is anything to go by, then UK tour operators (and tourists) can get stuffed. The tour operators may be trying things on somewhat by seeking lower prices, but the reaction verged on the despicable. It's understandable that hoteliers seek to maximise returns, but the attitude towards UK tourism was poor. Magalluf grew on UK tourism; Darder and others should remember that.
There was almost a sense of celebration that Magalluf can already boast a lower dependence on the UK market - down some 15%. There's going to be a great deal of spinning coming out of the London fair.
The fact is, though, that hoteliers appear to be able to increase prices without any fears that they'll see a drop in business. There are other markets who will fill any possible void left by UK tourism, and this was emphasised when I spoke earlier this week with a hotel director whose establishment is part of one of Mallorca's leading chains. Yes, his hotel is five-star, so the market is narrower than the typical tourist market, but he said that they have put up prices for next year because higher prices "are the market", as in what the market is prepared to pay. The same applies down the chain to four and three-stars.
The round of fairs begins shortly. London's World Travel Market is the first (7-9 November) ¡, and one suspects that there are going to be some more choice words, with the hoteliers more in the firing-line. If the attitude of Sebastian Darder of the Palmanova-Magalluf hoteliers association is anything to go by, then UK tour operators (and tourists) can get stuffed. The tour operators may be trying things on somewhat by seeking lower prices, but the reaction verged on the despicable. It's understandable that hoteliers seek to maximise returns, but the attitude towards UK tourism was poor. Magalluf grew on UK tourism; Darder and others should remember that.
There was almost a sense of celebration that Magalluf can already boast a lower dependence on the UK market - down some 15%. There's going to be a great deal of spinning coming out of the London fair.
The fact is, though, that hoteliers appear to be able to increase prices without any fears that they'll see a drop in business. There are other markets who will fill any possible void left by UK tourism, and this was emphasised when I spoke earlier this week with a hotel director whose establishment is part of one of Mallorca's leading chains. Yes, his hotel is five-star, so the market is narrower than the typical tourist market, but he said that they have put up prices for next year because higher prices "are the market", as in what the market is prepared to pay. The same applies down the chain to four and three-stars.
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