Rising costs could give Spain ‘competitive edge’

The boss of the Spanish Tourist Board said he is “cautiously optimistic” about the future of the country’s inbound tourism sector, despite the struggles facing the travel industry.

In an interview with Travel Weekly, Miguel Sanz Castedo, director general for Turespaña, said Spain has always been widely known as a “safe destination”, which he thinks could work in its favour as the conflict in Ukraine rages.

“Whenever there has been social unrest or any other type of risk in the Mediterranean, Spain has always been a safe destination,” said Castedo.

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“We think that will be the case this time around too, so people are going to feel safer in Spain than elsewhere, and that is something positive from our point of view.”

Sanz is also hopeful that the predicted rising cost of aviation fuel might prompt British holidaymakers who go on long-haul holidays to instead opt for short-haul destinations such as Spain.

“Air fares are probably going to go up because of the rising cost of aviation fuel, which means longer flights are going to be even more expensive,” he said.

“But because the UK is closer to Spain than other destinations in the Eastern Mediterranean, we might have a competitive edge in pricing.

“Price-conscious holidaymakers might find Spanish destinations are more affordable, not only for long-haul but medium-haul flights.”

Sanz stressed that “inflation will hurt everyone” but thinks the pent-up demand to travel people have built up over the last two years and people’s financial savings throughout the lockdowns will keep tourism at a healthy level.

And he believes Spain is better placed than other countries to weather the storm.

“Of course we would prefer not to have inflation, not to have the war and not to have Covid,” he said. “But in this new paradigm which is bad for everyone, Spain is well positioned, and we think we might have some kind of edge. I’d say we’re cautiously optimistic.

“Human beings have been travelling since the very beginning, we are nomads by nature.”

Sanz said Spain is focused on its “traditional source markets” in the short term, including the UK, but is “keeping an eye on long-haul markets” including Latin America, the US and Asia.