Before the days of the internet, as soon as Christmas Day was over the advertising campaigns for summer holidays would appear on British television.
Millions would book their holidays in January, and many would pay weekly or monthly to their local travel agent so by the time it came to take their summer holiday, it had been paid off and it was just spending money to take care of.
Old habits die hard it seems, as despite late deals and instant access on the internet to hundreds of thousands of holidays, nearly half of the British population still book their holiday in the first two months of the year.
‘It’s a habit the country got into over a couple of decades’, one UK based group of travel sites try to explain, ‘And it continues today despite the fact that the cost of an average holiday compared to salaries is way down on when the internet wasn’t around for the mass market to access.’
How long the January and February frenzy continues is anyone’s guess, but as even more of the population gets online and time online increases, the holiday bookings Brits make should become more spread out over the year, and with late deals often available the booking peak might shift from early in the year to the early May and June summer months.
Interesting statistics have been released by one of the UK’s leading holiday companies for the bookings they took in the first weeks of 2008, and it suggests the British love affair with Spain shows no sign of slowing down.
Top searched destination was the Spanish island of Majorca. Majorca is one of the longest established tourist destinations in the world, and has had a tourist board for over a hundred years. Their tourist board has helped ensured the island has remained a British favourite for generations.
Today Majorca receives more than six million visitors annually, yet ninety five percent of her tourists concentrate in only five percent of its territory. Less developed areas of this elegant island are ripe for new development and prime property commands a great premium. Majorca is now also successfully selling holidays away from the coast in traditional areas not known for tourism.
Ibiza, well known in Europe for younger tourists and night clubs which feature visiting and resident British DJ’s, is a neighbouring island of Majorca and also makes the top five most booked holiday destinations in the early weeks of 2008.
The Spanish Canary Islands also feature among the most booked holiday destinations, with Tenerife and Gran Canaria being the second and third most popular areas.
Another Canary Island, Lanzarote, was the fourth most searched holiday destination, but Lanzarote is a popular winter getaway and as well as summer bookings would have benifitted from Britons looking for a winter holiday.
Lanzarote maintains relatively constant temperatures and sees low annual rainfall. Few days are lost to weather-related problems due to this environment, which offers the premium atmosphere for technical improvements and beneficial training. In addition to these benefits, the winds are good and steady in the Canary Islands due to the north-east trade winds, which also bring cooler air in the summers to Lanzarote.
If bookings continue in similar patterns throughout the year, Spain and her islands will be again the destination of choice for the British.
November 28, 2009
Spain Leads 2008 Tourist Race
November 25, 2009
Spanish Holidays Off To Flying Start For 2007
With fresh challenges every year from new and old competitors to take away market share, Spain increased her number of visitors in the first couple of months of 2007 for what could be a good year for a country that has been the favourite destination for Europeans for nearly fifty years.
The visitor numbers were so good that it broke new records for Spain, with 4 per cent more holiday makers in January 2007 compared to 2007, and a total of 2.8 million tourists overall.
The most popular area of Spain was off the mainland, the Canary Islands.
The Canary Islands consist of Tenerife, Fueteventura, Lanzarote and Gran Ganaria. The Canaries enjoy good weather in the winter months due to her geographical location near Africa, and Many British, Dutch and German tourists take villa and hotel holidays for a week November to mid March.
The Costa del Sol, a perennial favourite of the British seeking a winter sunshne break surprisingly saw a near 5 per cent dip in UK visitor numbers, but overall enjoyed a near 6 per cent increase in tourists.
The Balearic Islands recorded a rise in visitors of just over 1 per cent.
The Balearics consist of Menorca (the smallest island), Majorca and Ibiza. The small rise compared to the Canary Islands isn’t too much of a surprise as Menorca has a season that traditionally is at its peak early May to end September, but is now trying to extend that from mid April to mid October.
Majorca
Majorca is hoping to boost visitor numbers this summer by increasing the level of competition at the island’s SuperYacht Cup. As well as drawing extra tourists for the event itself it adds an extra attraction for those holidaymakers already on the island, adding to the possibility of a return visit in future years – and with more destinations to choose from in recent years repeat visitors has become an important strategy in tourist locations.
As part of the Balearic Islands, Mallorca has welcomed many visitors back to live full time on the island. Menorca property has proved popular too, for those looking for a gentler pace of life than big sister Mallorca.
Property prices in Mallorca are similar to Menorca property, with a range of apartments and villas in both rural and town locations, and with twenty golf courses plenty of golf course developments too on Mallorca.
Menorca has just the one golf course, recently extended to eighteen holes, and is located in Son Park, which has a choice of hotels, apartments and villas for holiday makers.
The cost of flying to Mallorca has come down in recent years from most European countries due to low cost airlines, especially in the island’s core tourist areas of the United Kingdom and Germany, and last year easyJet started direct flights from London’s Gatwick Airport to the sister island of Menorca, as well as serving Mallorca itself.
Despite competition from other destinantions, Mallorca looks set to remain a favourite holiday spot for some time to come.
November 14, 2009
Traveling to and within Spain
Information about traveling to and within the country of Spain including flights, rail and road travel and ferry services
Mainland Spain is situated on the Iberian peninsula in the southwest of Europe. It also encompasses two groups of islands. The Islas Baleares (Balearic Islands), in the Mediterranean, Mallorca the largest island is just over one hundred miles off the eastern coast and the Islas Canarias (Canary Islands) which are situated approximately five hundred miles to the southwest and lie off the Atlantic coast of Morocco. Mellila and Cueta are two Spanish enclaves in Morocco on the African continent.
Whilst Spain is one of the world’s leading destinations for the package holiday there is more to this country than the beaches of the costas and islands. The independent traveler will want to move around see what more Spain has to offer.
Getting there – There are thirty one airports on the mainland serving the following cities and towns: A Coruna, Albacete, Alicante, AlmerÃa, Asturias, Badajoz, Barcelona, Bilbao, Burgos, Cordoba, Girona, Granada, Jerez de la Frontera, Leon, Madrid, Malaga, Murcia, Pamplona, Reus, Sabadell, Salamanca, San Sebastian, Santander, Santiago, Sevilla, Valencia, Valladolid, Vigo and Zaragoza. In the Canaries the islands of El Hierro, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, La Gomera, Lanzarote and Tenerife and in the Balearics Ibiza, Menorca and Mallorca all have airports. Gibraltar, the British colony at the southern most tip of Spain, also has it’s own airport. British Airways and the Monarch fly daily to Gibraltar from several departure points in the United Kingdom and Monarch has some very good deals on seats. Major carriers provide scheduled flights to Spain but it is also a principal destination for budget airlines with return flights available for less than 100 Euros from other European cities. It is also possible to pick up bargain seats on the many charter flights serving the tourist industry. Air travel within Spain, with the exception of a couple of budget airlines, is expensive.
Major roads provide access from Portugal to the west and France which borders Spain to the northeast. Road travel within the country can vary. Many roads are not of a good standard but Spain has received billions of Euros in aid from the European Union and much of this has been spent on the infrastructure and so it is also possible to travel on some of the newest and finest roads on the continent. The country is well served by many bus companies linking the major towns and cities with express services. There are also a wealth of local bus services.
The train service is well developed enabling access to the country from both Portugal and France and fast travel between towns and cities within Spain. Fares are cheap compared to some other major European countries. Madrid and Barcelona are served by extensive Metro (underground railway) networks.
In addition to the many inter island services ferries run from the mainland to both the island groups and the two enclaves in Morocco. The Canary Islands are served by a boat running from Cadiz. The journey is long, some 48 hours and the sea conditions often make for a rough passage. It may be preferable to fly although as we have already pointed out this can be expensive. Ferries from Tariffa and Algeciras, in the Andalucian province of Cadiz, run to Tanger in Morroco. Ferries also link the enclave of Cueta with Tariffa, Algeciras and Malaga. Mellila, the other enclave is served by a boats out of Malaga and Almeria. The Balearic Islands have services to the mainland running to Barcelona, Valencia and Denia.
More information about Spain can be found at the Spanish Travel Guide
November 11, 2009
Island Lights In Real Estate Darkness
At times of poor economies property prices more often than not fall, and the property market in itself is sometimes enough to cause a recession in the rest of the economy as home owners see their top asset slashed in value, and cut back on spending as a direct result of feeling less wealthy.
2008 has already seen the world’s financial markets in turmoil with a rogue trader in France losing billions of Euros for his bank, and the Federal Reserve aggressively cutting interest rates to try and stave off a recession in the US.
But among the gloom, those involved in real estate markets around the world can often point to areas where property bucks the trend, and is on an upward move despite all that is happening to property elsewhere.
A prominent UK real estate site predicts that France will see a rise in property values for 2008 of between 5 and 8 per cent.
The advantages France has compared to some European markets is that the British buy there extensively, and have done for over twenty years now. The recent upgrading of the channel tunnel could ensure interest remains high in Northern France, easily accessible from London and her Home Counties.
Two countries who share borders with France are also likely to be areas where property prices will increase in 2008 – the tax havens of Andorra and Monaco, which have similar tax benefits.
Monaco because tax havens are in demand whatever is happening to the economy, and the supply of properties is short with new supply not coming on stream for another three to four years. Andorra will continue to enjoy the overspill from Monaco, where studio apartments start at around a million Euros, while in Andorra the same million Euros will buy a house.
Further into Southern Europe the UK property site suggests both Mallorca and Tenerife could see property price gains, and with local populations on both Spanish islands becoming restless about the amount of future developments to be allowed the supply of new apartments and villas could be limited.
Mallorca – often known as Majorca – is the main island of the Balearic Islands, which also includes Menorca and Ibiza. Located in the Mediterranean off the east coast of the Spanish mainland, Mallorca is the largest of the Balearic Islands and sees most tourists – some of whom ultimately buy a holiday home on the island or move there full time. According to the 2005 census, the population of the city of Palma was 375,048. The population of the entire area was estimated to be 517,285; the 12th-largest urban area of Spain. Approximately half of the total population of Mallorca lives in Palma, but many newcomers steer to the coastal resorts such as Alcudia.
And while 2008 may appear to be gloomy for the real estate sector, there will no doubt be some light among the darkness of falling prices in some areas of Europe.