Distribución y Revenue Management

📍 Tourism companies are meeting deadlines for repaying state bailouts from SEPI. Over €500 million has been received by SEPI, a significant portion from tourism firms. Hotusa announced a €28 million repayment on August 6, totaling €108 million or 44% of their €241 million bailout. Wamos repaid €9.6 million recently, totaling over €17 million of its €85 million aid. Plus Ultra Airlines has returned over €4.9 million in three years, with a €2.4 million contribution in March. Air Europa has repaid 15% of its loans, around €95 million, including €41 million from €475 million SEPI funds and €25 million from €141 million ICO loans, plus €66 million in interest. Ávoris fully repaid its €320 million loan in late 2022. SEPI aims to recover around €2.100 billion, with other companies like Serhs and Volotea on the list.

🏖️ Spain.info, the official Spanish tourism portal managed by Turespaña, offers an interactive map with approximately 16,200 tourism proposals. The map includes 655 destinations, 2,333 art and culture spots, 510 museums, 1,731 monuments, 92 parks and gardens, 180 natural spaces, 3,539 beaches, and various other points of interest and experiences. Additionally, users can book 137 cultural activities, 322 nature experiences, 207 wine and gastronomy experiences, and other activities online. Turespaña plans to integrate artificial intelligence into Spain.info to further assist tourists, with potential new tools being unveiled at the Turespaña Convention in Tenerife from October 1-3, 2024.

🎨 The Telegraph ranks Mallorca and Barcelona as top places in Europe where Brits feel unwelcome. Spanish newspapers continue campaigns suggesting Spaniards are unwelcoming, affecting tourism. Tourists share negative experiences on social media, impacting Spain's image as a travel destination. With abundant choices, dissatisfied tourists can easily switch to destinations like Faro, Maldives, Italy, or Turkey. Tourism in Spain is at risk as emotional experiences shape traveler choices. A protest against German tourists is planned in Mallorca.

🏡 Riu introduces the Elite Club offering exclusive services for premium clients, featuring a dedicated bracelet for access. This premium area includes an exclusive restaurant, beach area, pool, and private lounge. Additional perks include welcome gifts, room aromatherapy, premium drinks across the hotel, high-end liquor dispensers, and a snack-filled minibar. Elite Club services are available at Riu Palace resorts, such as Kukulkan (Cancún), Macao (Punta Cana), Pacifico (Riviera Nayarit), Jamaica (Jamaica), Baja California (Los Cabos), Antillas (Aruba), and Mauritius (Mauritius), with Riu Palace Bavaro being the first family-friendly hotel to offer it.

🏖 eBooking.com reports that summer 2024 beach destinations in Spain will cost 7.3% more than last year, averaging €195 per night, while international coastal cities average €184, up 18.4% from €155 in 2023. Cheapest beach cities include Rio de Janeiro (€109), Naples (€132), and Istanbul (€137). The most expensive in Spain are Ibiza (€317), Marbella (€277), and Palma de Mallorca (€276). Prices in Punta Cana, Eilat, and Albufeira are rising by 47.2%, 27.1%, and 19.1%, respectively.

✈️ Ryanair approaches tenth partnership with online travel agencies, announcing a deal with German company Omio. Customers of Omio will now have access to Ryanair's low-cost flights with full price transparency and booking access. This marks Ryanair's eighth recent partnership, previously teaming up with Viajes El Corte Inglés, Expedia, Tui, Lastminute.com, Kiwi, Etraveli Group, and On the Beach. Potential addition of Destinia is in negotiation, expected to be announced in the last quarter of the year.

✈ Ryanair, renowned for its partnerships with various online travel agencies, has now added Omio as a verified OTA, expanding its list of partners including Travelfusion, Expedia, Etraveli, loveholidays, and lastminute.com. This collaboration allows Omio's customers to book Ryanair's low-cost flights with price transparency and complete access to their reservations, enhancing travel options for over 240 routes. The move aligns with Omio's mission to offer seamless, comfortable, and multimodal travel experiences globally.

🏠 Airbnb experienced a notable slowdown in growth causing a 14% loss in investor value on Wednesday, followed by a mere 1% improvement on Thursday. This downturn aligns with similar troubling forecasts from Delta Airlines, Marriott, and Booking anticipating a regressive fall. Despite this, Airbnb aims to transition into a more serious and professional organization, focusing on quality control improvements for its listings and service enhancements, while expanding into less penetrated markets.

🏖️ The Federación Empresarial Hotelera de Mallorca (FEHM) criticizes "extremist attacks" on tourism in the face of recent vandalism in Palma de Mallorca, impacting local community and deterring key markets. Palma woke up to anti-tourism graffiti, like "El turismo os hará libres" and "Stop Tourism". German and British media reported on a "Kill a tourist" graffiti in Manacor, deemed sinister and unjustified. The FEHM demands respect for Baleares' 203,495 tourism workers and calls for graffiti removal. Palma's city council promises cleanup and increases fines from €100-750 to €1500-3000 for vandalism.

💸 Renfe's new Avril trains, operational since May 21, have encountered 479 issues out of approximately 1,800 operations, which is 26.6%. The recent chaos at Chamartín station on August 6 involving an Avlo service from Valencia to Madrid will cost Renfe about €340,000. Punctuality rates for these trains are over 30 points below the company's average. A YouGov study indicates most Spaniards view tourism positively despite increasing social rejection of its negative externalities in major cities. In "QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024," the first Spanish school for studying Hospitality, EUHT StPOL, ranks 11th in Europe, with Swiss schools dominating the top 7 positions.