Tendencias del mercado

🏨 Cristina Salmerón, Chief Marketing Officer of Fergus Hotel Group, addressed the challenges of hotel brands, highlighting the need for adaptation to an evolving environment and maintaining brand consistency with the experience provided. She discussed Fergus Group's focus on asset value for stakeholders, leveraging three business units, two distinct brands (Fergus Hotels and tent Hotels), and a white label (Affiliated by Fergus). Fergus Group has been operational for over 10 years, aiming at repositioning hotel projects. Salmerón emphasized the importance of Spanish hotel chains' strong international market presence and identified digitalization and social media as amplifiers for hotel companies' reach. She also mentioned the significance of unique value propositions for independent hotels to compete with larger groups.

🌎 Alemania faced a 0.2% GDP decline in 2024, continuing a two-year recession. Germans maintain a strong vacation priority despite economic strains. Travel Data Analytics (TDA) notes a shift towards all-inclusive packages and early bookings, with reservations 9 months ahead rising from 28% to 35%. For 2025, there is a notable increase in air capacity between Germany and Canarias, with a 6.8% winter increase and a 15% summer boost. German tourists in Canarias, averaging 47 years old, prefer 4 and 5-star hotels, all-inclusive stays, spending €1,641 per trip, and have an 86% travel rate without children. Beach enjoyment exceeds that of British tourists (80% vs. 60%), and 20% have visited Canarias over 10 times.

🏨 Palma de Mallorca Airport awarded Best Airport in Europe at the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) 2024 by the Airports Council International (ACI), highlighting Spain's standout airport experience. ASQ awards are based on passenger surveys evaluating customer service, cleanliness, process efficiency, and facility comfort. Other Spanish airports also received accolades, including Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat (over 40 million passengers), Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández, Menorca, Girona-Costa Brava, Almería (second award, first in 2018), Reus, Murcia International Region, and El Hierro. These recognitions reflect Spain's commitment to high-quality passenger service and airport efficiency, reinforcing the country's tourism connectivity, especially in the Balearic Islands.

🏖️ British tourists accounted for 42% of arrivals in Benidorm during the second half of February, a 3% increase from the first half of the month, boosting hotel occupancy to 76.8%, surpassing the monthly average of 75.5%. National tourists in Benidorm decreased from 43.8% to 40.2%, with Dutch (5.2%), Belgians (5%), and Irish (2.2%) following. March forecasts show a 76% booking rate for the first half, a 1% increase from 2024. Castellón led the Valencian Community in hotel occupancy at nearly 85%, while Valencia's occupancy fell, with 4-star hotels particularly affected. The Costa Blanca, excluding Benidorm, saw a slight drop to 74.2% occupancy in late February, down 3.3 points from 2024.

🧑‍🦯 On March 5, 2025, Chinese tourists repeatedly fell on frozen stairs while climbing a mountain in Huangshan, with several receiving medical attention. The government advised postponing visits due to severe snowfalls and icy conditions making the popular sightseeing staircases and trails hazardous. Social media videos showed visitors struggling on the ice. Emergency services intervened to assist the injured.

💰 After a strong early booking period for Mediterranean destinations, the German market has seen a slowdown in the past four weeks, with reservations for Spain, particularly in July and August, being affected by high prices. A 2% growth in the German market is considered satisfactory due to its maturity and stability. The trend towards higher prices for lower occupancy in hotels and the competition from more affordable destinations like Turkey are influencing booking behaviors. Additionally, online package sales are growing, and market consolidation, including Dertour's acquisition of Hotelplan, is making market analysis challenging. Spain remains costly for the peak summer season, while Turkey is becoming more competitive. Popular German destinations include Mallorca, Costa del Sol, and the Canary Islands in winter. W2M, part of Grupo Iberostar, has made a significant commitment to the German market, evident at ITB Berlin, where they were a prominent sponsor. Gabriel Subías, CEO of the group, reports double-digit growth in the German market for their Bedbank division.

🇨🇺 Cuba welcomed 2.2 million international visitors in 2023, a 9.6% decrease from the prior year, marking a 50% reduction from pre-pandemic levels in 2019. In January, typically peak season, arrivals plunged 24.6% to 196,004 tourists, with Canada (88,980 visitors), the US (13,666), Russia (11,974), Germany (6,389), and France (4,561) as top sources. Germany was the only top 10 country to increase visitors by 3%. The Cuban tourism industry suffers from a severe economic and energy crisis, exacerbated by US sanctions and reduced flight frequencies, impacting major markets like Canada, Spain, and the UK. Cuba's inflation was reported at an annual 24% in January, with prices tripling since 2020. The pandemic, US sanctions, and domestic policy mishaps compounded Cuba's economic woes, resulting in significant social unrest and unprecedented migration.

✈ Iberia contracts Iberojet and Wamos Air for flights to Cuba during the summer season starting the last Sunday of March. Iberojet began flying an Airbus A330 on the Madrid-Havana route on March 1, until March 29. Wamos Air will also fly to Havana with an A330 from April 11 to June 29 and July 22 to September 30. Additionally, Iberia subcontracted Iberojet for Panama flights until March 23 and Privilege for Caracas until March 29.

🏖️ Spain welcomed 5.1 million international tourists in January 2025, a 6.1% increase from January 2024. The UK led with 863,286 arrivals, up 3.6%, while Germany saw a 2.4% decline. Other countries like Belgium, Nordic countries, and Switzerland also experienced decreases. Tourism spending in Spain reached €7.132 billion, up 8.9% from 2024. The average spending per tourist was €1,408, a 2.7% year-over-year increase, and daily spending rose by 4.3% to €165.

📈 TSS Group, a consortium of German agencies, closed 2024 with an 11% sales increase and expects even better figures for 2025. Spain retains its position as the number one destination as the ITB begins today in Berlin. The German market is experiencing an "excellent year" in 2025, maintaining sales momentum from previous years, especially in the cruise segment. Despite recent elections, the societal spending on travel remains a priority, with bookings made further in advance than in prior years. Travel Data + Analytics GmbH reports a 7% business volume increase for the overall market and a 5% increase for Spain, based on data from German tour operators.