The announcements made last week by the government (vaccinated people from any country will be able to enter Spain from 7 June, as well as free access to tourists from the UK, among other countries), have only added to the boost in accommodation bookings for Ibiza since the International Tourism Fair in Madrid (Fitur), according to José MarÃa Ramón, CEO of Neobookings, a booking engine for accommodation that handles more than 60% of the island’s beds. “We are experiencing an upward trend in bookings, with a growth of 17.21% over the previous week,” he says. Last Monday, perhaps because of the communiqué issued by the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, referring to the fact that from 7 June the borders are wide open to vaccinated people from any country, “there was a 37% increase in bookings compared to Sunday”. But already on Sunday “another increase of 28% was experienced, compared to the previous day”.
“It is growing at a good pace,” he insists, but with the thorn in the side of British tourism: “We are still waiting to see if we will be green for the UK on June 7. The British are booking very little, and the little they do book is for the months of July and August”. What will happen on Monday 7th June, what will Boris Johnson say? “In principle it seems that Spain will not be included in the green light, but we can’t be certain of this because it was also said that the Canary Islands would not be included and in the end they have made an exception,” says Ramon. The tour operator TUI has cancelled all its packages until 27 June for amber and red countries such as Mexico, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Turkey, Egypt, Cape Verde, Morocco, Tunisia and Bulgaria (most of our direct competitors), but has not included Spain (amber), which could be a good sign.
Even if the UK were to put us in green (even if only the Balearic Islands), the CEO of Neobookings warns that it would not be very noticeable in June bookings: “As the season is so early, we would only get a few more people coming in for the remaining three weeks of June, but the biggest volume will be concentrated from July onwards”.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.