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Cheaper destinations “challenging Spain”
Cheaper destinations such as Croatia, Bulgaria, Egypt and Turkey are challenging the traditional beach holiday in Spain, new research confirms.
Incoming tourist receipts in between 2003-04 Spain declined by 2%; while incoming tourist receipts in Turkey and Egypt grew by 12% and 18%, respectively, according to market intelligence firm Euromonitor International.
Spain remains the world’s second most popular tourist destination with an estimated 53 million tourists last year but more are forgoing traditional beach packages in favour of shorter city breaks.
Euromonitor’s research shows that short breaks of one-to-three days are the fastest growing type of holiday in Spain, accounting for 37% of all trips in 2004. Short breaks benefited city-break tourism in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia.
The number of arrivals to Spain is expected to grow by 17% between 2004-2009, with more than 62 million tourists predicted to visit the country in 2009.
The sun and beach tourism offered by the Balearic and Canary Islands will continue to be most popular. But growth in these regions will be held back by the increasing number of short stays among visitors.
This will continue to benefit cities that are able to complement the sun and beach themes with cultural, sports, health and music tourism. Euromonitor expects Barcelona and Valencia to be the most successful city-break destinations, “as they tend to satisfy the diversification demanded by an increased number of sophisticated travellers”.
The growing popularity of low-cost airlines and online travel retailers offering last-minute flight and accommodation deals has boosted the trend towards more frequent city breaks.
Central to the strategy of low-cost airlines are internet transactions. Online transactions have grown by approximately 860% in value terms over the last three years (2002-2004), according to Euromonitor.
“Since short break travellers tend to be more flexible, they are able to use the internet to shop around and take advantage of price promotions,” a spokeswoman said.
*For further details see Euromonitor’s Travel and Tourism web page – www.euromonitor.com/travel
Report by Phil Davies
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