Today AENA released the data for July. Most islands (Baleares and Canarias) are flat or losing passengers after years of booming traffic and record tourism figures. Those numbers could be much worse if domestic and inter-island traffic was not booming due to the recovery of the Spanish economy and an increase in resident fare discount from 50 to 75%.

Fuerteventura (FUE) -9.5% / 504,911
Gran Canaria (LPA) -4.4% / 1,068,941
Lanzarote (ACE) -2.4% / 649,112
Palma de Mallorca (PMI) -0.6% / 4,207,218
Tenerife Sur (TFS) +0.1% / 891,912
Ibiza (IBZ) +0.5% / 1,332,411
La Palma (SPC) +0.6% / 130,745
Menorca (MAH) +0.8% / 638,843
Tenerife Norte (TFN) +2.7% / 541,207

Small airports more dependent on international passengers are also down

Girona (GRO) -5.0% / 294,816
Jerez de la Frontera (XRY) -3.3% / 128,666
Almería (LEI) -1.1% / 134,018
Reus (REU) -0.7% / 193,143

It is no surprise Ryanair has announced the closure of TFS, LPA and GRO bases.

Barcelona and Málaga (the two largest beach airports) are in positive numbers but losing momentum.

Barcelona (BCN) + 3.8% / 5,360,997
Málaga (AGP) + 3.8% / 2,228,460

Inland airports fare much better, with healthy increases. Madrid has had the best month ever for a Spanish airport (shy of 6 million PAX). SCQ has broken for the first time the 300k/month barrier, and BIO the 600k/month.

Madrid (MAD) +7.5% / 5,944,835
Bilbao (BIO) +8.5% / 603,139
Santiago (SCQ) +13.7% / 302,074
Sevilla (SVQ) +20.5% / 641,333

European beach tourism in Spain is going down. Tourists coming back to Turkey or Tunisia, Brexit, the German economy cooling down or climate change (record heat in Northern Europe) could be to blame. How far down could those airports go?

If Egypt manages to avoid any security issues then I see even more tourists going there next year. I think even Saudi Arabia is thinking of building some resorts on the Red Sea.

Spain was becoming a bit overcrowded so maybe it's not such a bad thing that numbers are going down.

Out of Airports 19 mentioned, only 8 are in decline. So you could look at it as most Airports are seeing small increases in passenger traffic. Glass half full situation. Considering Tunisia and Turkey is back on the rise and the other factors mentioned, apart from the Canaries, on the face of it doesn't seem as bad as being made out.
Airports like GRO and REU have likely seen growth because of the lack of availability in other larger resorts when people shifted away from Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt. Unfortunately it's likely those Airports and tourist regions may not keep up with the current shift back to other Countries.

caaardiff wrote:

Out of Airports 19 mentioned, only 8 are in decline. So you could look at it as most Airports are seeing small increases in passenger traffic. Glass half full situation. Considering Tunisia and Turkey is back on the rise and the other factors mentioned, apart from the Canaries, on the face of it doesn't seem as bad as being made out.
Airports like GRO and REU have likely seen growth because of the lack of availability in other larger resorts when people shifted away from Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt. Unfortunately it's likely those Airports and tourist regions may not keep up with the current shift back to other Countries.

Indeed.. a lot of people everywhere. Better to focus on quality than quantity...

Hasn‘t there been a lot of complaining from citizens about how there were too many tourists these last years? In the end the complete „Airbnb-zation“ of city centres isn‘t a pretty thing and Spain, unless something unexpectedly dramatic were to happen, will remain a top tourism destination.

The closer islands of Ibiza/Fuertaventura/Majorca and Menorca are prime for myself and many more americans every summer lately. I've gone the past few years every summer and do intend to return next year. Each time I explore further.

I think the numbers above are in no way showing anything of major concern. Perhaps the Canaries may be in a small decline, they are further out, and nice but not anything you cant see right in the Med.

Like stated above, its crowded in this region and a slight down tick will actually help the overall feel for the rest of the tourists. They are still booming.

NWADTWE16 wrote:

I think the numbers above are in no way showing anything of major concern. Perhaps the Canaries may be in a small decline, they are further out, and nice but not anything you cant see right in the Med.

Concern is domestic VS international. July YoY

FUE: Spain +17.0% / 174,972 - International: -18.8% / 323,749

PMI: Spain +7.6% / 768,349 - International: -2.4% / 3.438,051

Almost -20% in international arrivals to Fuerteventura is a major concern.

SCQ83 wrote:

It is no surprise Ryanair has announced the closure of TFS, LPA and GRO bases.

Ryanair has realised that you don't base planes in tourist destinations as you need to be flying tourists in to them early in the morning and flying the tourists out in the evening/night not the other way around. LCC base model is incompatible with Tourist Destination Bases.

leghorn wrote:

SCQ83 wrote:

It is no surprise Ryanair has announced the closure of TFS, LPA and GRO bases.

Ryanair has realised that you don't base planes in tourist destinations as you need to be flying tourists in to them early in the morning and flying the tourists out in the evening/night not the other way around. LCC base model is incompatible with Tourist Destination Bases.

I think most tourists that are flying Ryanair couldn't care less about their flight times as long as the fare is convenient.

Well, I think many tourists got tired of the Canaries even selling you dog sheds for a quite high price. I have a few favourite places to stay on each Canary island, but when 3 Star places on Fuerteventura cost more than a 4 Star near Girona, it is no decision at all - especially if you are not going to lay solely on the beach. Canaries were too expensive for the all-inclusive beach folks and offered a too bad experience for those wishing to explore the islands due to overcrowding and the usually friendly people getting tired of too many tourists. SPC is not affected by this and has grown, despite Germania being gone and the number of seats available direct flights from Germany reduced.

SCQ shows it is not a general problem, as the increased capacity to Germany has been fully accepted by the market.

PatrickZ80 wrote:

leghorn wrote:

SCQ83 wrote:

It is no surprise Ryanair has announced the closure of TFS, LPA and GRO bases.

Ryanair has realised that you don't base planes in tourist destinations as you need to be flying tourists in to them early in the morning and flying the tourists out in the evening/night not the other way around. LCC base model is incompatible with Tourist Destination Bases.

I think most tourists that are flying Ryanair couldn't care less about their flight times as long as the fare is convenient.

I dare say that those wiling to pay the prices for a holiday on the Canaries, do actually care about comfort and quality. And everybody cares about a nearly full day of your holidays being killed by those flight schedules. Arrive 23:00 and fly out 04:00 turns a 14 days holiday into an effective 13 days.

seahawk wrote:

Well, I think many tourists got tired of the Canaries even selling you dog sheds for a quite high price. I have a few favourite places to stay on each Canary island, but when 3 Star places on Fuerteventura cost more than a 4 Star near Girona, it is no decision at all - especially if you are not going to lay solely on the beach. Canaries were too expensive for the all-inclusive beach folks and offered a too bad experience for those wishing to explore the islands due to overcrowding and the usually friendly people getting tired of too many tourists. SPC is not affected by this and has grown, despite Germania being gone and the number of seats available direct flights from Germany reduced. .

From my experience it is actually the other way around.

This year hotels in Canarias are relatively cheap and affordable. Not to mention Canarias itself is quite an affordable destination (e.g. gas price at 1 EUR/litre).

Hotels in Mallorca or the Spanish Mediterranean coast are absolutely overpriced. Comparable hotels in Greek islands or Croatia (not Dubrovnik, Mykonos or Santorini of course) are half the price.

leghorn wrote:

SCQ83 wrote:

It is no surprise Ryanair has announced the closure of TFS, LPA and GRO bases.

Ryanair has realised that you don't base planes in tourist destinations as you need to be flying tourists in to them early in the morning and flying the tourists out in the evening/night not the other way around. LCC base model is incompatible with Tourist Destination Bases.

Closing out TFS, LPA, and GRO have nothing to do with actual performance, as leghorn says it doesn't make sense to have a/c staying overnight to fly out early morning in such places. Also the MAX8 delays have started to have an impact on FR fleet scheduling.

SCQ83 wrote:

Today AENA released the data for July. Most islands (Baleares and Canarias) are flat or losing passengers after years of booming traffic and record tourism figures. Those numbers could be much worse if domestic and inter-island traffic was not booming due to the recovery of the Spanish economy and an increase in resident fare discount from 50 to 75%.

Fuerteventura (FUE) -9.5% / 504,911
Gran Canaria (LPA) -4.4% / 1,068,941
Lanzarote (ACE) -2.4% / 649,112
Palma de Mallorca (PMI) -0.6% / 4,207,218
Tenerife Sur (TFS) +0.1% / 891,912
Ibiza (IBZ) +0.5% / 1,332,411
La Palma (SPC) +0.6% / 130,745
Menorca (MAH) +0.8% / 638,843
Tenerife Norte (TFN) +2.7% / 541,207

Small airports more dependent on international passengers are also down

Girona (GRO) -5.0% / 294,816
Jerez de la Frontera (XRY) -3.3% / 128,666
Almería (LEI) -1.1% / 134,018
Reus (REU) -0.7% / 193,143

It is no surprise Ryanair has announced the closure of TFS, LPA and GRO bases.

Barcelona and Málaga (the two largest beach airports) are in positive numbers but losing momentum.

Barcelona (BCN) + 3.8% / 5,360,997
Málaga (AGP) + 3.8% / 2,228,460

Inland airports fare much better, with healthy increases. Madrid has had the best month ever for a Spanish airport (shy of 6 million PAX). SCQ has broken for the first time the 300k/month barrier, and BIO the 600k/month.

Madrid (MAD) +7.5% / 5,944,835
Bilbao (BIO) +8.5% / 603,139
Santiago (SCQ) +13.7% / 302,074
Sevilla (SVQ) +20.5% / 641,333

European beach tourism in Spain is going down. Tourists coming back to Turkey or Tunisia, Brexit, the German economy cooling down or climate change (record heat in Northern Europe) could be to blame. How far down could those airports go?

No surprise you forgetting to mention VLC and ALC enjoying record growth this year (+12.4 and 7.7% 'til June respectively)

SCQ83 wrote:

seahawk wrote:

Well, I think many tourists got tired of the Canaries even selling you dog sheds for a quite high price. I have a few favourite places to stay on each Canary island, but when 3 Star places on Fuerteventura cost more than a 4 Star near Girona, it is no decision at all - especially if you are not going to lay solely on the beach. Canaries were too expensive for the all-inclusive beach folks and offered a too bad experience for those wishing to explore the islands due to overcrowding and the usually friendly people getting tired of too many tourists. SPC is not affected by this and has grown, despite Germania being gone and the number of seats available direct flights from Germany reduced. .

From my experience it is actually the other way around.

This year hotels in Canarias are relatively cheap and affordable. Not to mention Canarias itself is quite an affordable destination (e.g. gas price at 1 EUR/litre).

Hotels in Mallorca or the Spanish Mediterranean coast are absolutely overpriced. Comparable hotels in Greek islands or Croatia (not Dubrovnik, Mykonos or Santorini of course) are half the price.

Well German tour operators did overplay it this year quite a bit, especially for the areas popular with Germans. Mallorca has some form of cult status and attracts the wealthier customers. You can see that SPC is not affected, as it also caters to different customers than the rest of the Canaries - less price sensitive and more devoted to that destination.

Figures no real surprise for the Canaries and expected. These things seem to have trends and as North Africa and Turkey makes a steady come back the Canaries suffer a bit. Of course history tells us that any political or terrorism issues in North Africa and Turkey will turn the tables again. Then you have people that will not travel to North Africa and Turkey so the decline will be more of a re adjustment.

seahawk wrote:

Well German tour operators did overplay it this year quite a bit, especially for the areas popular with Germans. Mallorca has some form of cult status and attracts the wealthier customers. You can see that SPC is not affected, as it also caters to different customers than the rest of the Canaries - less price sensitive and more devoted to that destination.

SPC is a very niche market. But also SPC has lost international traffic

SPC International 21,931 (2019) / 25,922 (2018) / -15.4%

To be honest Mallorca was running at full capacity the last two years and a small decrease in tourist numbers might be a good thing for the island in the long run.

Endless queues everywhere and a slot restricted airport don't help matters.

I live in Mallorca and whilst it is still busy this summer it doesn't feel quite as mad.

On a side note:
PMI was closed today after an incident involving a 757.
Most flights diverted to Menorca and Ibiza.

Here is the full list of airports, in case anybody wanted to check it.

http://www.aena.es/csee/ccurl/205/436/0 ... o_2019.pdf

As usual, you forget to mention other airports whom are still enjoying healthy traffic figures. Including GRX with a 15,1% increase, compared to 2018.

Anyone else think those TFS numbers look odd. Is TFS really a sub 1 million passenger operation? There surely must be 20-30k passengers a day at this time of year. I can count 13 TUI flights in the next 12 hours and 9 Jet2 flights alone....

EDIT: Doh!! These are monthly figures not annual figures....I'll get my coat.

Embajador3 wrote:

As usual, you forget to mention other airports whom are still enjoying healthy traffic figures. Including GRX with a 15,1% increase, compared to 2018.

GRX is an "inland" airport. Quite similar to a place like SCQ (although at a smaller scale); a mix of international cultural tourism/city-break and local demand. GRX is quite far from the coast and the Granada coast has little international tourism. In fact SCQ is closer to the sea than GRX.

I haven't mentioned every airport in Spain otherwise I could have talked about VGO where traffic has been collapsing for a while with no end in sight.

SCQ83 wrote:

seahawk wrote:

Well German tour operators did overplay it this year quite a bit, especially for the areas popular with Germans. Mallorca has some form of cult status and attracts the wealthier customers. You can see that SPC is not affected, as it also caters to different customers than the rest of the Canaries - less price sensitive and more devoted to that destination.

SPC is a very niche market. But also SPC has lost international traffic

SPC International 21,931 (2019) / 25,922 (2018) / -15.4%

Yes, as more tour operators fly the customers to LPA and then to SPC with Binter.

OA260 wrote:

Figures no real surprise for the Canaries and expected. These things seem to have trends and as North Africa and Turkey makes a steady come back the Canaries suffer a bit. Of course history tells us that any political or terrorism issues in North Africa and Turkey will turn the tables again. Then you have people that will not travel to North Africa and Turkey so the decline will be more of a re adjustment.

The main issue here is that because of the boom in the last few years, hotel prices (and in general anything else) in Mediterranean destinations in Spain have doubled. A couple of years ago everything was sold out no matter the price.

Naturally, foreign tourists are not stupid and have moved to more affordable places because they got tired of being ripped off. You don't need to go to Turkey; even Rhodes or Crete look like a bargain compared with Mallorca (and Mallorca overall is a very middle-class destination).

Interestingly, British are more resilient than Germans (no matter Brexit). Some people seem surprised about this, but I think it makes a lot of sense. For many Brits going to the beach is about binge drinking and getting laid. No other place in Europe (not to mention Turkey or Egypt for obvious reasons) can compare to Magaluf in Mallorca or Benidorm in Alicante. While many Germans also like this (google Bierkönig or Megapark Mallorca) in general they are looking for a quieter tourism so Antalya works well too. Also Germans are usually more money-savvy and with the German economy cooling down, every Euro counts.

SCQ83 wrote:

OA260 wrote:

Interestingly, British are more resilient than Germans (no matter Brexit). Some people seem surprised about this, but I think it makes a lot of sense. For many Brits going to the beach is about binge drinking and getting laid. No other place in Europe (not to mention Turkey or Egypt for obvious reasons) can compare to Magaluf in Mallorca or Benidorm in Alicante. While many Germans also like this (google Bierkönig or Megapark Mallorca) in general they are looking for a quieter tourism so Antalya works well too. Also Germans are usually more money-savvy and with the German economy cooling down, every Euro counts.

I mean that may be the case for LCC, however I don’t see that potentially being a reason for a decline in tourists to these islands...

As many have already stated the issues in Egypt, Turkey and Tunisia provided an influx in tourists to the Spanish, Greek and Cape Verdean islands.
Tour Operators recently have said in recent years they’ve over compensated for this and had “too many seats/beds”. Now with the demand in countries such as Egypt and Tunisia increasing again, this is where those seats and beds are going. SSH is constantly being reviewed by the UK and it’s tour operators, with a lot of Europeans still flying there.

I shouldn’t think the majority of this is down to these “Brits”, making their crabs at home on the beaches of Alicante instead.

Looking at the figures, I wouldn't think that Spain has anything to worry about just yet.
As mentioned already, there are probably varying factors to this, both in terms of money and choice.

As for money, you can't escape that the world is on a little downturn at the moment, with trade-wars and political disputes, growth is slowing . Spain and it's islands are the staple holiday for the northern Europeans escaping for 7 or 14 days of sunshine, and if the Eurozone is on a bit of go slow, spending £800+ / Euro per person may lead to a second thought.

However, you also have to throw in choice, in that the old days of the Spanish 'beano' is not the only thing on offers. People tend now to fly to places because the LCC go there. I will often look at Ryanair's or EJ's route map and pick a destination that is new to me that I would never have given a thought to before .
Also, speaking from my own point of view here in the South East of the UK, in a small space of time over the last couple of years Jet2 have expanded rapidly at Stansted and ergo, so has my choice of destination in Greece, Greek Islands, Spain, Croatia etc. 3 years ago it was Benidorm or bust; now Pula, Split, Antalaya, Reus, Rhodes, etc etc...
Add into this the story in the press of Spanish locals in Granada or Palma becoming anti-tourists, or Palma police fining tourists for buying Ray-bons and Gzucci handbags...one of 2 people may just chose to travel elsewhere!

Can I just remind people that weather in Northern Europe has been exceptionally good for the last two years. Offer a German family an open-air Schwimmbad during a heatwave with a grillparty in the evening at home or a trek to the South of Spain at great expense and they'd probably choose not to wander. This was certainly reported in local media about the summer last year.

British Isles didn't enjoy the good weather to the same extent and the British don't have as much disposable income since they decided to shoot themselves in the foot.

GibbonUK wrote:

Looking at the figures, I wouldn't think that Spain has anything to worry about just yet.
As mentioned already, there are probably varying factors to this, both in terms of money and choice.

As for money, you can't escape that the world is on a little downturn at the moment, with trade-wars and political disputes, growth is slowing . Spain and it's islands are the staple holiday for the northern Europeans escaping for 7 or 14 days of sunshine, and if the Eurozone is on a bit of go slow, spending £800+ / Euro per person may lead to a second thought.

However, you also have to throw in choice, in that the old days of the Spanish 'beano' is not the only thing on offers. People tend now to fly to places because the LCC go there. I will often look at Ryanair's or EJ's route map and pick a destination that is new to me that I would never have given a thought to before .
Also, speaking from my own point of view here in the South East of the UK, in a small space of time over the last couple of years Jet2 have expanded rapidly at Stansted and ergo, so has my choice of destination in Greece, Greek Islands, Spain, Croatia etc. 3 years ago it was Benidorm or bust; now Pula, Split, Antalaya, Reus, Rhodes, etc etc...
Add into this the story in the press of Spanish locals in Granada or Palma becoming anti-tourists, or Palma police fining tourists for buying Ray-bons and Gzucci handbags...one of 2 people may just chose to travel elsewhere!

From the UK perspective, outbound travel to Spain etc. has got more expensive (due to the weak GBP) and inbound travel has got cheaper (due to the weak GBP). This naturally changes the airports/markets that feed pax to/from the UK. The UK has, from my observation, had a very busy year for inbound tourism from the US.

THY748i wrote:

Hasn‘t there been a lot of complaining from citizens about how there were too many tourists these last years? In the end the complete „Airbnb-zation“ of city centres isn‘t a pretty thing and Spain, unless something unexpectedly dramatic were to happen, will remain a top tourism destination.

This. So much.

Get the numbers down, and start working on getting people who spend (and behave, while you're at it) better.

There's only so many people an island like Ibiza can fit, and it's already past breaking point.

leghorn wrote:

Can I just remind people that weather in Northern Europe has been exceptionally good for the last two years. Offer a German family an open-air Schwimmbad during a heatwave with a grillparty in the evening at home or a trek to the South of Spain at great expense and they'd probably choose not to wander. This was certainly reported in local media about the summer last year.

British Isles didn't enjoy the good weather to the same extent and the British don't have as much disposable income since they decided to shoot themselves in the foot.

Last year was one of the hottest years on record in the British Isles and it was well documented that the 'staycation' effect allegedly hit the package tour industry's traditional late summer bookings.

As for shooting ourselves in the foot, don't always believe the MSM media hype! Whilst the likes of Thomas Cook spout out their list of 'Brexit' related issues to disguise poor management, poor service and overpriced holidays; the likes of Jet2 have gone from strength to strength and air travel in the UK is on the rise.
Disposable income as such has not declined to the extent the left wing media portray and most people I converse with have not given up on their yearly holiday...they are just choosing different locations outside Spain, or in a lot of cases, outside the EU.

As mentioned above, the pound to Euro conversion is having an affect on expenditure, with people choosing to go where they get more bang for their buck, i.e Turkey, Montenegro, Croatia, rather than traditional resorts. And yes, it is well documented that this summer has seen a huge rise of incoming tourists into the UK.

But, as i have already stated, the Eurozone is in decline and even Germany teetering on recession...everyone is probably more frugal with their travel plans of late

GibbonUK wrote:

Last year was one of the hottest years on record in the British Isles and it was well documented that the 'staycation' effect allegedly hit the package tour industry's traditional late summer bookings.

average temperature of 17.2 degrees during heatwave doesn't stop people booking holidays
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Brit ... _heat_wave

In Northern Europe it was actually as warm as Southern Europe.
pound to euro exchange rates. pound to pretty every currency exchange rates.

JJJ wrote:

THY748i wrote:

Hasn‘t there been a lot of complaining from citizens about how there were too many tourists these last years? In the end the complete „Airbnb-zation“ of city centres isn‘t a pretty thing and Spain, unless something unexpectedly dramatic were to happen, will remain a top tourism destination.

This. So much.

Get the numbers down, and start working on getting people who spend (and behave, while you're at it) better.

There's only so many people an island like Ibiza can fit, and it's already past breaking point.

Ibiza is a world-class destination like Mykonos or Dubrovnik. Ibiza is not only Europeans but people from all over the world. With some exceptions like San Antonio in the west of the island, it is not the kind of place that is competing with Antalya or Sharm El Sheikh for volumes of British or German middle class families. Ibiza will be more resilient than Mallorca or Canarias.

leghorn wrote:

GibbonUK wrote:

Last year was one of the hottest years on record in the British Isles and it was well documented that the 'staycation' effect allegedly hit the package tour industry's traditional late summer bookings.

average temperature of 17.2 degrees during heatwave doesn't stop people booking holidays
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Brit ... _heat_wave

In Northern Europe it was actually as warm as Southern Europe.
pound to euro exchange rates. pound to pretty every currency exchange rates.

Just an idea...it might be worth while reading your own Wikipedia link before posting.

Effects on the economy
'the official Visit Britain body forecast the number of international visitors to the UK would increase by around 15% from the USA alone, as the effect of the worldwide Royal Wedding publicity fed through into fine summer weather and late holiday bookings.[24] Hotels in competing Mediterranean resorts, such as Ibiza, were forced to slash their prices as demand from British tourists declined sharply as people decided to holiday in the British Isles.'

SCQ83 wrote:

Embajador3 wrote:

As usual, you forget to mention other airports whom are still enjoying healthy traffic figures. Including GRX with a 15,1% increase, compared to 2018.

GRX is an "inland" airport. Quite similar to a place like SCQ (although at a smaller scale); a mix of international cultural tourism/city-break and local demand. GRX is quite far from the coast and the Granada coast has little international tourism. In fact SCQ is closer to the sea than GRX.

I haven't mentioned every airport in Spain otherwise I could have talked about VGO where traffic has been collapsing for a while with no end in sight.

GRX was only an example. LCG is closer to the sea than SCQ and is enjoying a healthy growth too. Of course, you had to mention poor little VGO. An airport that is now loosing passengers due to many factors, but you don't say anything about LCG airport and its apparent success.

Please keep the thread on topic. If your post doesn't directly relate to the topic, then it probably belongs in a different thread!

✈️ atcsundevil

Embajador3 wrote:

GRX was only an example. LCG is closer to the sea than SCQ and is enjoying a healthy growth too. Of course, you had to mention poor little VGO. An airport that is now loosing passengers due to many factors, but you don't say anything about LCG airport and its apparent success.

LCG does not have a "healthy" growth. LCG is growing because of Iberia (partially subsidised) to MAD, Vueling and Volotea (fully subsidised). Not different to VGO growing at double digit rate last year (or two years ago) before crashing into a wall. At this point in time however no carrier (even with healthy subsidies) seem to have any interest to operate in those two airports.

Embajador3 wrote:

GRX was only an example. LCG is closer to the sea than SCQ and is enjoying a healthy growth too. Of course, you had to mention poor little VGO. An airport that is now loosing passengers due to many factors, but you don't say anything about LCG airport and its apparent success.

I'm not sure that being closer to the sea make this one a relevant example. The sea in northern Spain is not exactly what makes most tourist come. Temperature issue...

Toinou wrote:

Embajador3 wrote:

GRX was only an example. LCG is closer to the sea than SCQ and is enjoying a healthy growth too. Of course, you had to mention poor little VGO. An airport that is now loosing passengers due to many factors, but you don't say anything about LCG airport and its apparent success.

I'm not sure that being closer to the sea make this one a relevant example. The sea in northern Spain is not exactly what makes most tourist come. Temperature issue...

Spain offers a great deal of opportunities for those seeking great holidays. Galicia offers something different than the Canaries and the mediterranean coast. The current success of the famouse "Rías Baixas" is proof of that, and water temperature does not prevent people from visiting (check the current status of bookings to the Cíes Islands. Sold out until September).

The fact that traffic at some airports in Spain declined, is linked to the fact that tourism at other spots in are quickly recovering (Tunisia, Turkey, Egypt...).

SCQ83 wrote:

Embajador3 wrote:

GRX was only an example. LCG is closer to the sea than SCQ and is enjoying a healthy growth too. Of course, you had to mention poor little VGO. An airport that is now loosing passengers due to many factors, but you don't say anything about LCG airport and its apparent success.

LCG does not have a "healthy" growth. LCG is growing because of Iberia (partially subsidised) to MAD, Vueling and Volotea (fully subsidised). Not different to VGO growing at double digit rate last year (or two years ago) before crashing into a wall. At this point in time however no carrier (even with healthy subsidies) seem to have any interest to operate in those two airports.

LCG enjoyed a 10,7% growth compared to 2018. I call that a healthy growth. Your other statements are only your persona views, and if you have proof of that, I ask that you provide a link to back up your claims.

Embajador3 wrote:

LCG enjoyed a 10,7% growth compared to 2018. I call that a healthy growth. Your other statements are only your persona views, and if you have proof of that, I ask that you provide a link to back up your claims.

Those are not my views. You can find plenty of recent articles about subsidies in LCG:

Vueling. August 2018: https://cadenaser.com/emisora/2018/07/3 ... 58100.html
Volotea. December 2018: https://www.laopinioncoruna.es/coruna/2 ... 56818.html
Iberia. July 2019: https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/c ... 6C2992.htm

Everything is subsidised. Once subsidies ran out, flights take off and never return. Which is what has happened in VGO this year. And VGO still subsidies Air Nostrum (with two different agreements which are running out soon).

SCQ83 wrote:

Embajador3 wrote:

LCG enjoyed a 10,7% growth compared to 2018. I call that a healthy growth. Your other statements are only your persona views, and if you have proof of that, I ask that you provide a link to back up your claims.

Those are not my views. You can find plenty of recent articles about subsidies in LCG:

Vueling. August 2018: https://cadenaser.com/emisora/2018/07/3 ... 58100.html
Volotea. December 2018: https://www.laopinioncoruna.es/coruna/2 ... 56818.html
Iberia. July 2019: https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/c ... 6C2992.htm

Everything is subsidised. Once subsidies ran out, flights take off and never return. Which is what has happened in VGO this year. And VGO still subsidies Air Nostrum (with two different agreements which are running out soon).

The links you provide only inform of the opening of frecuencies/routes by Vueling, Volotea and Iberia, albeit thanks to those subsidies you are so aware of. They don´t say anything else.

As for subsidies, may I remind you that FR arrived to SCQ, thanks to an agreement signed, giving it important subsidies to start flights from SCQ (see links).

https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/g ... P13991.htm
https://www.farodevigo.es/gran-vigo/201 ... 29393.html
https://www.hosteltur.com/112758_ryanai ... spana.html

So, as you can see, SCQ is quite subsidised as well.

SCQ83 wrote:

Embajador3 wrote:

LCG enjoyed a 10,7% growth compared to 2018. I call that a healthy growth. Your other statements are only your persona views, and if you have proof of that, I ask that you provide a link to back up your claims.

Those are not my views. You can find plenty of recent articles about subsidies in LCG:

Vueling. August 2018: https://cadenaser.com/emisora/2018/07/3 ... 58100.html
Volotea. December 2018: https://www.laopinioncoruna.es/coruna/2 ... 56818.html
Iberia. July 2019: https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/c ... 6C2992.htm

Everything is subsidised. Once subsidies ran out, flights take off and never return. Which is what has happened in VGO this year. And VGO still subsidies Air Nostrum (with two different agreements which are running out soon).

What about VLC growth not only domestic but int'l traffic? nothing to say? subsidies?

From yesterday

https://www.lasprovincias.es/economia/a ... 38-nt.html

GibbonUK wrote:

Looking at the figures, I wouldn't think that Spain has anything to worry about just yet.
As mentioned already, there are probably varying factors to this, both in terms of money and choice.

As for money, you can't escape that the world is on a little downturn at the moment, with trade-wars and political disputes, growth is slowing . Spain and it's islands are the staple holiday for the northern Europeans escaping for 7 or 14 days of sunshine, and if the Eurozone is on a bit of go slow, spending £800+ / Euro per person may lead to a second thought.

However, you also have to throw in choice, in that the old days of the Spanish 'beano' is not the only thing on offers. People tend now to fly to places because the LCC go there. I will often look at Ryanair's or EJ's route map and pick a destination that is new to me that I would never have given a thought to before .
Also, speaking from my own point of view here in the South East of the UK, in a small space of time over the last couple of years Jet2 have expanded rapidly at Stansted and ergo, so has my choice of destination in Greece, Greek Islands, Spain, Croatia etc. 3 years ago it was Benidorm or bust; now Pula, Split, Antalaya, Reus, Rhodes, etc etc...
Add into this the story in the press of Spanish locals in Granada or Palma becoming anti-tourists, or Palma police fining tourists for buying Ray-bons and Gzucci handbags...one of 2 people may just chose to travel elsewhere!

Completely off topic but similar to what seems to be occurring on the Canaries and Balearic Islands, Hawaii is experiencing record tourism numbers as a result of cartel violence in Mexico and catastrophic hurricane damage on islands throughout the Caribbean in the past few years. The increasing number of visitors is creating a very similar anti-tourism sentiment amongst locals here. As the Caribbean rebounds I’d imagine the demand will naturally tapper off if the increasing resentment and hostility toward tourists doesn’t chase them away first.

When your island’s economy is heavily reliant on tourism... don’t bite the hand that feeds you. What I find is that most tourist aren’t trying to be disrespectful to the host population, they are most often simply ignorant of the cultural norms of the place they’re visiting. Chalk it up to “vacation brain”.

The local governments of these island vacation destinations could and should be doing a lot more to educate incoming visitors of some basic “do’s and don’ts. Hell, make a video or publish a hand out for distribution on all inbound flights. You have a captive audience after all..

77H