Tourism bounce on ice as Spanish hotel bookings lag

Bookings surged to over 4m April but were still 85% below April 2019's levels, Spain's National Statistics Institute data shows

Overall reservations for the first four months of the year were 71% below the equivalent period last year, as the first restrictions on travel were not introduced until mid-March 2020.

The number of nights booked by tourists in Spanish hotels surged to just over 4m in April from zero a year earlier when a strict Covid lockdown paralysed the travel sector and forced most to stay at home.

But, despite the jump, the bookings were still 85% below April 2019's levels, Spain's National Statistics Institute data showed, underscoring the scale of the blow dealt by the pandemic.

Overall reservations for the first four months of the year were 71% below the equivalent period last year, as the first restrictions on travel were not introduced until mid-March 2020.

Preliminary data from booking platforms suggest reservations gathered pace in May after a national state of emergency expired, allowing more Spaniards to travel domestically.

According to the INE, local tourists accounted for nearly 70% of total bookings in April, while Germans, who are free to travel to destinations in the Balearic Islands, made up the largest group of foreign travellers.

Willie Walsh expects a smaller and more cautious airline industry to emerge after the Covid crisis.

Meanwhile, Willie Walsh, the head of airline lobby group IATA, expects the aviation industry to emerge from the Covid crisis smaller and more cautious, doubting airlines will try to expand through acquisitions.

"It will be a smaller industry. We are not going to recover all the capacity. It will be a more cautious industry. I don't expect to see M&A activity, principally because people will be guarded about the cash they have," he said.

Mr Walsh, the former CEO of Aer Lingus and British Airways owner IAG, said spending "valuable cash resources" would be "too risky".

But he believes there will be consolidation through airlines shrinking their operations and some failing.

"It's going to take airlines time to repair their balance sheets," he said.

IATA has forecast global travel demand to return to 2019, pre-pandemic levels in 2024.

• Reuters