One of the consequences of the economic downturn has been where people choose to go on holiday.
A week or two in the sun, a hotel with a pool, and if it’s cheaper than where people had holidayed before…well, money’s tight and cheaper means you can still have a holiday.
In turn the major travel firms were more likely to be highlighting a map of Egypt or Morocco than a map of Tenerife. The new destinations were outside of the Eurozone and tourist money went further than in Spain and her islands.
But revolution and political unrest – which has become known as the Arab Spring – caught not just governments but the travel companies unprepared, and the trend to cheaper destinations suddenly, almost overnight, became a trend to safe destinations – and out came the map of Tenerife again.
The Canary Islands and other parts of Spain have seen a boost in tourist numbers, and with the Spanish economy struggling it’s a welcome development. In fairness to Spain’s holiday industry they had been reacting to lost tourists before the Arab Spring, and prices have come down.
For many tourists, especially those with families, today it doesn’t matter how cheap holidays in Egypt are and travel companies can argue until they are blue in the face that Egypt’s tourist resorts are miles away from the troubles in Cairo and other major population centres – they’re not interested. Safety is a priority over price.
And while Syria bombards their own people in Homs people will see on twitter and the mainstream news that it’s not safe to travel to the region.
There’s an analysis of how Spain’s tourism industry is doing better because of the Arab Spring at this blog
