Last year there were already several signs of a recovery of tourism in Spain. Head of Tourism Google, spoke at Fitur2022 about the recovery of the sector and talked about the two latest trends in the post-covid era in Spain.
On January 25, Hosteltur.com wrote about the predictions presented by Guillermo Albizuri, head of tourism at Google. Albizuri: “Before the Omicron wave, the recovery of tourism in Spain was already noticeable. But since Christmas, we have seen fewer cancellations and especially more searches from the British market to Spain. Within Spain, the cities of Barcelona, Madrid, Palma, Málaga, and Alicante are searched most often.”
Tourist organisations in Spain must prepare for rapidly increasing demand
Albizuri advises tourist organisations in Spain to anticipate a ‘booking explosion’ in the short term. This is so they can take maximum advantage of the fact tourists are very happy to come back to Spain.
Spain sees two new trends in post-covid era
Certain services and activities are very likely to pick up again in the near term. However, the head of Tourism at Google mentioned there are two important (and fairly new) trends in the travel world. Travellers increasingly feel the need to go on holiday out of season.
This is because there is more diversification in travel needs. Previously, bookings were often concentrated on the larger cities or the beaches in Spain. Since the pandemic, rural tourism, nature holidays, and ‘workation’, the new trend of long-term rental of a holiday home for quiet teleworking, have also become popular among Spaniards and international travellers.
Specific tourist activities are attracting faster than others
The recovery of specific services – which have already adapted to or have cleverly responded to the corona restrictions – is also going a lot faster than other services that have not done this or are unable to do so.
Certain tourist activities have adapted since March 2020 so they can still take place. The recovery of, for example, car rental, rental of holiday homes, campsites, restaurants, and saunas are going a lot faster than, for example, the number of bookings for cruise trips and large-scale activities such as concerts.
