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Tourism experts in Spain are predicting a strong summer season
As travel operators begin looking toward the summer, airlines operating under the Aena network – Spain’s airport management company – have scheduled a total of 215.6 million seats for high season months, which represents a 1.6% increase on the same period in 2019, before the pandemic hit. The largest boost this year is in flights to and from the Canary and Balearic Islands.
The busiest airports in Spain this season are set to be the Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas, with more than 42.6 million seats (95% recovery) and Barcelona-El Prat, with more than 36.2 million (90% recovery). The projections so far don’t include scheduled flights from Russia and Ukraine, although given that these nations account for only 1% of the air traffic entering Spain, the ongoing war is not expected to have a major impact on the tourism sector here.
As was a common trend at the height of the pandemic, domestic flights are still leading the air travel sector recovery, with 7% more seats between Spanish airports on offer this summer. In contrast, seats scheduled for the international market have actually decreased by 1% this year.
Also of interest: easyJet becomes latest airline to ditch masks on flights
After Spain, the countries where airlines are offering the greatest number of seats this summer are the UK, with 35 million, Germany with 21.6 million and Italy, with 13 million.
According to Aena, the outlook for the 2022 summer season is “positive”, but the degree of uncertainty “remains high” due to the ongoing conflict with Ukraine and the rise in fuel prices, which has resulted in an indefinite strike by Spanish transport workers.
Despite all this, Spain’s tourism group Exceltur has predicted a bumper year for international tourism. Overnight hotel stays in February were only down 17% on the 2019 figures, a strong indication that the sector is recovering, according to the executive vice president, José Luis Zoreda.
The group believes that “good tourist expectations” are justified, especially given the rebound in demand of UK tourists, especially in relation to the Canary Islands.
You might also like: Brit holiday boost: Canary Island Covid restrictions relaxed
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