English language newspaper for Ibiza, published and online every week.

Front Page News

Fitur
Fitur, one of the largest tourism fairs in Europe, took place in Madrid last week. During the Fair the two main British tour operators, Thomas Cook and TUI, and the online companies Jet2Holidays.com and Holidays4you.com, confirmed that advanced bookings for Ibiza and Formentera for this summer were up by an estimated 10 percent compared with the same time last year. The President of the Hoteliers’ Association, Juanjo Riera, expressed his satisfaction at the figures, commenting “more package holidays are being sold and the demand from the British market is very positive”. The German company REWE also reported an increase of 15 percent for 2012, with Riera explaining that the on line operators in Germany are going from strength to strength. “The difference between these agencies and the conventional ones is that they do not have their own aeroplanes, but collaborate with the airlines to send their clients to Ibiza, normally using Air Berlin, Germanwings or Hapag Lloyd”.
These forecasts are a breath of fresh air for hoteliers as prices have remained frozen for the last three years, not even increasing the standard inflationary rate, with Riera highlighting the many establishments who have worked hard to improve the quality of their establishments over recent year. “If nothing goes wrong at the last moment, it should not be necessary to have to offer last minute discounts as in previous years” commented Riera when attending the Fair last week.
However speaking a few days after the event, Monarch boss Hugh Morgan, said he was not as optimistic for the Balearic market as most, and claimed the general feeling at the Fair had been one of caution. UK package holiday sales are currently down six per cent across the board, although Ibiza is up six percent.
He issued a warning to the tourist sector on the islands not to become complacent, claiming businesses had to be aware of the hard times those in the UK were currently going through, in stark contrast to what the press releases were saying.
“We’re not seeing it here in the UK,” he stated, “which this year has the Jubilee, the European Championships and the Olympics, and the Balearics needs to take these events in to account. Plus Easter is early. So I suggest the Balearics have a long hard look at the figures, they don’t lie.”
Formentera, for its part, will be attending the BIT Fair in Milan, which will be held in the middle of February, as they are concerned that the economic crisis which Italy is facing may have an adverse affect on reservations. “It is our principle market and we need to be careful, but so far the future seems bright” explained Carlos Bernús, head of tourist promotion for Formentera, adding that they are lucky as they have a large proportion of repeat customers.
Its geographical position, ensuring all visitors have to first fly to Ibiza before travelling by ferry to reach their holiday destination, means the island cannot afford to cut prices and offer special deals as other more accessible resorts can.
At the Fair the Mayor of Gandia, Arturo Torró, and the Commercial Director of the ferry operator Acciona, hinted they could begin running a regular link between the town (which is considerably nearer Valencia than Dènia) and Ibiza. Initially the idea would be to operate at the weekends between the 1st of July and the 31st of August, and permission has already been granted by the Valencia Port Authority more than a year ago, although the plan never got off the ground. Details of sailing times, the exact vessels used, as well as prices have still to be finalized. Torró mentioned that the high-speed AVE trains now reach Valencia, which would be much more convenient for holidaymakers travelling from Madrid.