Busy Levante beach |
However, occupancy for the second half of August pushed through the 90% mark, achieving 92.7% and so did record an increase on last years figures over the same 2 week period.
As predicted the domestic Spanish market has fallen by 8% and accounted for 50.6% of the market. With the IVA increases now in place prices have gone up more or less everywhere and it was feared that the Spanish would be tightening their belts, with holidays taking a back seat in priority. Entrance prices for all the theme parks went up on 1st September making a family day out rather pricey, especially if you do not have any discount vouchers. The best ones have always been at the airport, so when flying in look out for them in the baggage reclaim area.
The good news is that the Brits are keeping tourism afloat in Benidorm... despite what The Sun said back in July! They made up a huge 34.7% of the market share and in the second half of August figures show an massive 18% increase on last years figures, surpassing 192,000 visitors! By category, the best occupancy was in the 4 star hotels which reached 93.6% - with the newly opened 4 star Flash hotel probably contributing to those figures. When I passed by at the weekend virtually every balcony had a towel on it, indicating a pretty full house.
Cheeky Scottish chappies from last year! |