Holiday Operators Look to the East Med This Summer
Cosmos Holidays MD Hugh Morgan has said that the soaring popularity of Spain holidays could lead to travel agents shifting capacity to the east Mediterranean later this summer.
Mr Morgan noted that Spanish holiday capacity was filling up rapidly, with Balearic Islands and Canary Islands holidays "doing extremely well" and likely to continue doing so. "We could reach a saturation point around July and August when capacity will have to switch back to the eastern Mediterranean," he suggested.
"Turkey has had problems because it has put prices up tremendously, although Greece is coming back and Cyprus is also seeing growth."
Mr Morgan went on to suggest a resurgence of interest in Sharm el Sheikh holidays, thanks to "dramatic" hotel price reductions that are helping the resort to regain business and the prospect of Egyptian government aviation subsidies leading to more cheap flights to Sharm el Sheikh. "You can pick up a four or five-star hotel for £14 a night in Sharm el Sheikh," he observed.
For longer haul destinations, Travel 2 sales and marketing director Gordon McCreadie told TTG that there had been "phenomenal" sales of Dubai holidays so far, although UK travellers were generally booking their holidays later in the year. "Australia has come back, Canada is stronger, particularly for touring, and we're seeing a South Africa bounce as hotels bring prices down," he added.
The popularity of Dubai holidays has also been matched by interest in Abu Dhabi, according to the Emirate's tourist authority. Figures published by the organisation have shown that 153,874 visitors booked nights in its cheap hotels and holiday accommodation in January – some 5 per cent more than those who did so in January 2010.
Travel Industry News posted by 
on 30 March 2011
