The Balearic’s tourism chief wants to put the islands to the ‘top of mind’ for sports and events tourism.
Managing director Susanna Sciacovelli hosted key UK operators and agents to meetings prior to hospitality at the Masters tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London.
Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal is involved in the promotion as the Spanish islands look to spread the message about alternative offerings to main sun and beach holidays.
The push comes as the four main Balearic islands suffer from a 12% drop in UK arrivals so far this year attributed to the economic downturn and poor value of the pound against the euro.
Sciacovelli admitted the islands had found it difficult to compete with rival summer destinations outside the eurozone offering low cost all inclusive deals to tour operators.
She said the proportion of the tourism board’s 27 million euro budget targeting the UK was being increased from 25% to 30% through a range of campaigns.
“It is very important to spread travel across the seasons and want to be top of mind for golf and meetings so we can increase the number of tourists across the year,” she said.
Sciacovelli pointed to the quality hotel and infrastructure of the islands and extensive flight connections from the UK as key attributes offered by the Balearics together with cultural, sporting and meeting facilities.
by Phil Davies
