The end of summer has been marked by the return of one of its most outstanding protagonists: British tourist. After a summer of regulatory swings, cancellations of reservations and hotels-quarantine, more than 821,000 British have landed in Spanish airports during August, according to the data of the Secretariat of Tourism. 212% more than in 2020.
The favorite destination for disembarking has remained the Balearic Islands, where most British arrived during the agostos (and the Julios and the Juns) prior to the pandemic. In 2019, all of them disbursed 2,510 million euros during the month of August. An investment that vanished with the reduction of flights to Spain during this summer.
Today, with 76% of the Spanish population and 66% of the British vaccinated with the complete pattern, the tourist flow between both countries has recovered its usual state, in a widespread trend of international tourism growth. The arrival of foreign passengers to Spanish Airports has increased 172% over the past year, with a total of 5 million tourists.
From the tourism table, however, modulate the euphoria. "These percentages do not tell us anything, compare the data with last year, when we were confined, it's confusing. Because everything we compare with that moment will be an increase," Matizes Carlos Abelán, Secretary General of the Tourist Board.
Indeed, a more global vision of the data shows that the accumulated of foreign tourists arrived at Spanish Airports during this year is still less than that of 2020. That is, between January and August of this year 10% less passengers have arrived. of what they did in the year of the arrival of the pandemic, when most of Europe was closed to Cal and singing.
Despite the slow recovery, the return of English tourists to the first position of the podium, gives signs of return to tourist patterns prior to the pandemic. Thus, if the English market represents 16'4% of tourists arriving in Spain in August, Germany arrivals have also increased, which represent 16% of the total total tourists arrive at Spanish Airports in August. Behind them, the French (10%), Italians (9'8%), Dutch (7'4%) and Swiss (4'4%). Three out of ten, they landed in Balearic, specifically at the Palma de Mallorca airport.
From the Ministry of Tourism, value these data very positively. "The tendency of gradual recovery from international travelers began last March", has affirmed Reyes Maroto, holder of this ministry. In addition, it has highlighted that "Spain is open to residents in the United Kingdom vaccinated with full guideline or traveling with negative PCR" and has applauded the British Government's decision to "make its regulations for travel as of October 4".
But the road so far has not been easy. At the beginning of the year, the United Kingdom designed the traffic light with which it cataloged the countries in a green, amber or red listing according to their epidemiological situation. Since May, Spain remained within the Amber List, which meant that tourists who visited our country should make quarantine after the return of the holidays. In mid-July, Boris Johnson, Prime Minister English, annulled the norm for those citizens who had the full guideline. Only Baleares managed to get out of the Amberlist for three weeks of July, until the arrival of a fifth wave of the pandemic returned it to its original place.
Now, the possibility that this restrictive system comes to an end increases faith in the recovery of the sector. "The future we see it with optimism, British citizens are willing to travel again," Abellán recognizes.
Date Of Update: 20 September 2021, 20:45
