MADRID – Demand from British tourists for competing Easter holiday destinations such as Turkey or Greece is falling due to the war between Ukraine and Russia. Instead, their demand for destinations in Spain and Portugal has increased.
That is one of the conclusions of a report by the tourism analysis platform Mabrian Technologies. The agency compared search data for flights from the UK to Spain, Portugal, Turkey and Greece between February 11 and March 8 this year with travel between April 11 and May 1.
After comparing the evolution of average searches during the 13 days before the Russian invasion and the 13 days after, an increase in demand was noted towards Portugal (+13.2%) and Spain (+12.7%), while Turkey and Greece fell by 10.45% and 8.15% respectively.
But, the countries of the Iberian Peninsula did not always record positive figures. Searches for flights from the UK to all four destinations fell sharply across the board by between 30% and 40% in the days following the outbreak of war. However, search volumes for Spain and Portugal recovered in the next 5-6 days, while Turkey and Greece did not return.
Increased hotel prices
In terms of hotel prices, there was an increase in all categories in both Spain and Portugal. Portugal is the country where those prices recover the most, with an increase of 15% in 3-star hotels, 6% in 4-star hotels and 17% in 5-star hotels. Spain follows with rates of 14%, 4% and 9% respectively.
Overall, average hotel prices in Spain are more than 20% above the average for the analysed destinations and 15% above those of Portugal, its direct competitor.
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