Skift Take
The upcoming “turning point” spring break will expose whether Europeans have got their appetite for travel back or not.
Matthew Parsons
Spain expects tourist to recover in the spring after a slowdown brought on by the Omicron variation of Covid-19 and for overall visitor numbers this year to be more than two-thirds of record 2019 levels, a senior government official said.
“The 2022 expectations are great,” Tourist Secretary Fernando Valdes stated on the sidelines of Madrid’s FITUR tourism congress. “What we have is a terrific desire to travel,” he said.
Spain was the world’s 2nd most gone to nation in 2019, with a record 80 million travelers visiting the nation the year before the pandemic struck according to official figures.
Tourist reached only a 3rd of that number in 2021 as lockdowns and travel restrictions prevented a substantial recovery, though that was still about 55 percent higher than in 2020.
Rising vaccination levels and less travel limitations permitted international travel to Spain to speed up in the last quarter of 2021 to 64 percent of its pre-pandemic levels, although the quick spread of the Omicron version put the brakes on the recovery once again.
“The very first milestone is Easter week. It will provide us a sneak peek of what the remainder of the year is going to resemble,” Valdes stated.
The southern region of Andalusia is preparing to commemorate the Easter week in April with its world-famous processions after 2 years of cancelled celebrations throughout Spain, with other areas wishing to resume their own carnivals such as the San Fermin bull-running celebration in Pamplona.
Significant Spanish hotel chains such as Melia have actually noticed that reservations are on the rise and tourist authorities are anticipating an increase in travel from European countries such as Britain, Germany, Holland and France throughout the spring and summer.
Although the World Tourism Company stated this week a full international travel recovery was not anticipated before 2024, its Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili told Reuters he was “really positive” about the coming months.
“Spring will be extremely important to have a clearer picture but I believe this summer will be better,” he stated.
(Reporting by Corina Pons, modifying by Andrei Khalip, Elaine Hardcastle)
This short article was composed by Corina Pons from Reuters and was legally accredited through the Industry Dive Content Marketplace. Please direct all licensing questions to [e-mail secured]
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