Ryanair sees jump in bookings

RYANAIR is seeing a lift in bookings as a result of tourists abandoning unstable locations in north Africa in favour of other destinations.

Airlines have spoken of the impact rising oil prices could have on their businesses due to the unrest in north Africa. However, some are expected to see a pick-up in passenger numbers as tourists opt for other locations.

Already the Greek tourism minister says tourist numbers will rise 11% in 2011, helped by unrest in North Africa. Bloxham analyst, Joe Gill said a couple of weeks ago similar comments were made by tourism agencies in the Canaries.

“All this is helpful to carriers such as easyJet and Ryanair whose networks are extensive across Spain, Italy and increasingly Greece,” he said.

Ryanair spokesman, Stephen McNamara said the unrest in the Middle East has seen passengers return to more traditional summer sun destinations, adding that the airline has already seen a marked increase in bookings to the Canary Islands.

“However, the bigger impact has been the move among flag carriers and tour operators to introduce and hike-up fuel surcharges on their already high fares.

“These opportunistic, avoidable increases will see the gulf between their high fares and Ryanair’s low fares, which guarantee no fuel surcharges ever, grow even further and will result in even more passengers switching to Ryanair,” he said.

The head of the Greek hotel association said early bookings for the spring and summer season from Britain, which accounted for 14% of the 15 million tourists who visited Greece in 2009, were more than 10% higher than 2008.

Andreas Andreadis, president of the Hellenic Hotel Federation also said German reservations rose as much as 5%. These would be seen as big markets for Ryanair.

“It looks like we’re getting a part of the family business that was going to Egypt and Tunisia,” he said.

“Families book relatively early and they’re more affected by the fear of uncertainty or that something might happen.”

Greece is counting on tourism, which accounts for 16% of gross domestic product (GDP) and employs almost a fifth of the workforce, to boost its economy which is now in its third year of recession.

Mr Andreadis said factors supporting the industry this year include a stronger economic performance in the rest of Europe and a cut in tourism sales tax introduced in January.

“What we hope is that if the booking trend continues the late booking discounts will not be necessary this year,” he said. “Income could increase, not on a par with the arrival increase, but not very far away,” he said.

However, its not all good news for airlines and passengers with a former Ryanair director claiming increasing fuel prices and environmental policies could see the end of low-cost flight travel.

Tim Jeans said he sees no other scenario than for fares to go up and passengers to go down.