Tendencias del mercado

✈ Istanbul's airport leads Europe with an average of 1,352 flights daily from December 2-8, outperforming Heathrow, Schiphol, Frankfurt, and Charles de Gaulle. Only six years old, it retains continental leadership despite being in a storm-prone area. Istanbul's Sabiha Gökcen, the city's second airport, ranks tenth in Europe with 662 daily flights. Turkey overall is sixth in European air traffic, with Turkish Airlines' hub model connecting east and west akin to Emirates, Qatar, and planned Riyadh operations.

🏩 Globales launches Caramelo Hotels, a new adult-only premium hotel brand set to open its first two establishments in the Mediterranean by summer 2025. The inaugural Caramelo Palma Beach in Mallorca, previously Cook’s Club Palma Beach, will start operations in March 2025 with 318 rooms. Following in May 2025, Caramelo Marina Cala’n Bosch in Menorca will welcome guests to its 96 rooms, featuring terraces and outdoor jacuzzis. Caramelo Hotels aims to blend sophistication with affordability, focusing on Mediterranean culture and market cuisine, offering activities like DJ sessions, themed parties, and sunset yoga. Future expansions include rebranding Cook’s Calvia Beach in Palmanova and Globales Playa Santa Ponsa under the Caramelo brand.

🏨 The 149 small hotel chains in the Hosteltur Ranking have a total of 755 hotels, with 731 in Spain and 24 worldwide, summing up to 67,644 rooms—97% in Spain. The top 10 chains have 9,229 rooms, 10% of Meliá Hotels International's portfolio. Aubamar Hotels leads with 991 rooms, followed by Majestic Hotel Group with 971, and Axel Hotels with 963. Casual Hoteles, ranked seventh, will open new hotels in Granada in late 2023, Bilbao in July 2024, Naples, and the Balearics in 2025. Bestprice Hoteles climbed 44 spots to rank 84 by doubling its number of hotels to 338 rooms. Cabot Hotels rose 36 positions with an increase to 730 rooms, while Snö Hotels entered the top 15 with an additional 174 rooms. Smartrental Group debuted at 23 with 817 rooms.

📈 Minor Hotels Europe, owner of NH Hoteles, is set to delist from the stock exchange as MHG Continental Holdings, owning 95.865% of the capital, will launch a takeover bid for the remaining 4.135% at €6.37 per share—a 37.5% premium over the closing price—valuing the group at €2.775 billion, but requiring only €114.8 million. An Extraordinary Shareholders' Meeting is scheduled for January 20, 2025, in Madrid to approve the delisting. Minor Hotels’ shares have risen 10% in 2024 but lost over 20% since MHG's involvement; average daily trading is just over 52,000 shares.

🏖 Sunwing Vacations Group, a Canadian wholesaler, removed 26 Cuban hotels from its portfolio after nearly 30 years due to recurring power outages on the island. Canada is the top tourist source for Cuba, intensifying the impact. Notably, a four-day blackout occurred in late October, followed by hurricane-related outages and another on December 4 due to a major power plant failure. Tourism, Cuba's primary income source, faces challenges as visitor numbers decline, affecting the country's ability to rectify issues causing tourist dissatisfaction.

🏖️ Tui UK observes increased holiday sales to Egypt, Bulgaria, and Tunisia over Spain, attributed to Spain's high prices. The Guardian reports Tui's CEO, Sebastian Ebel, noting holiday prices remain high compared to 2019. Travelers with a budget of €1,000 per person seek alternatives offered by Tui. Mallorca is expected to be packed in summer; the Canary Islands are currently full in winter. Other popular destinations for British tourists include Zante in Greece, Tivat in Montenegro, Marrakech, Tirana, Agadir, Romania, Paris, Estonia, and Belgrade.

🏖️ Spanish travel agencies are set to close 2024 with a 10% increase in turnover, reaching approximately €32 billion. A Confederation of Spanish Travel Agencies (CEAV) survey shows that 56.5% improved their figures from the previous year; 23.7% remained stable, while only 19.7% reported declines. Among the gainers, 11.8% saw over a 25% increase. Employment remained stable for 69.5% of agencies; 24% hired more staff, and just 6.5% reduced personnel. Despite 64.9% reporting negative impacts from price hikes on bookings, 31.2% are optimistic for 2025, expecting revenue improvements.

🏖️ Spain gains the highest appreciation among European countries with a score of 7/10, as indicated by the latest Barómetro de Imagen de España (BIE) by Real Instituto Elcano, involving 5,809 online interviews across 10 European countries between September 25 and October 21. Notably, a third of British, Dutch, Belgian, and Luxembourger tourists have visited Spain four times or more. Tourism, climate, and gastronomy are the most spontaneously mentioned attributes, while Rafael Nadal leads the association with Spanish individuals.

✈ British Airways, the largest airline of IAG group, has pilot salaries revealed: newly joined co-pilots earn £65,000 (~€78,000) per year; experienced first officers make between £100,000 and £120,000 (€120,000 - €142,000); and captains up to £167,000 annually (€200,000). Pilots and their families aren't entitled to free tickets but can purchase unsold seats last minute at 90% off or get a 10% discount on regular fares.

🏥 Hostelería de España anticipates a 6% growth in 2024 compared to the previous year. Facturation increased by 8.1% from January to September 2024 over the same period in 2023, with inflation-adjusted rises of 2.5% overall, 2.2% in accommodation, and 2.7% in restaurants. Employment in the sector grew by 3.7%, with 1.9 million workers and the addition of 66,000 jobs. In 2023, the industry maintained more than 300,000 establishments, employed 1.7 million people, and generated €157.379 billion, contributing 6.7% to the national GDP.