Millions of people had their winter sun dreams ruined at the start of 2011 as a result of the civil unrest in Tunisia and then Egypt. The British Foreign Office advised against all but necessary travel to the countries’ capitals and millions of Brits were left stranded. This is going to do no favours for the two country’s future tourism potential. Although the coastal areas were largely unaffected by the violence, British travellers want to be safe on holiday.
One place that has benefitted from the problems on the other side of the Mediterranean is Spain. Despite having its own financial problems and high unemployment, there have so far been no riots in Spain. The country has been working hard over the last six months to encourage and entice tourists back to its beaches and ski resorts after a tough year in 2010. Tourist numbers were down for Spain last year with 53 million visits compared to 57.2 million in 2008.
It is trying to win back travellers by lowering prices at hotels, hostels and campsites, so much so that it is the second most affordable country to take a holiday in after neighbouring Portugal according to the Post Office’s Holiday Money Report.
The report measured the cost of eight typical travel items in 36 countries. The items included a pint of beer, a cup of coffee, sunscreen and a three-course evening meal for two. In Portugal this cost just £32.84, with Spain not far behind in second place on £36.68. Way down the list was Italy with £73.44 and to make matters worse for Egypt, it came in at an embarrassing £80.46.
Spain has long been a favourite with British travellers and it looks as though it will move back into the hot seat in 2011. Aside from picking up an extra few hundred thousand tourists who would have gone to Egypt or Tunisia, the country is pulling out all the stops for summer travel with flight capacity increased on many airlines operating routes to Spain and in the UK airlines are upping the number of flights departing from regional airports. Plus bookings for summer holidays are already up as consumers make the most of the weakness of the Euro.
