Holidays are a priority for the British and Andalucía is still a favourite

The message was clear. The south of Spain will continue to be a favourite holiday destination among British tourists. This was confirmed by the association of British travel agents, Abta, at the World Travel Market (WTM), one of the world’s biggest travel trade fairs, in London this week.

For the British, holidays are a priority, despite the economic situation affecting many families’ spending power. And Spain is still a favourite destination. Tour operators said that travel plans are being made earlier than ever to find the best prices and that families would rather cut their budget in other areas than forfeit their annual holiday.

Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer confirmed that 2025 would be a good year for Spanish destinations and referred to Holiday Habits 2024-25, a report that the association publishes each year which finds that “travel remains as important as ever to the UK public”.

Young families are the most common holidaymakers while the number of over-65s booking holidays has gone down by three percentage points.

“56% of families want to enjoy beaches and sunshine, while more than a quarter opt for the countryside,” said the association, confirming that Spain is still a firm favourite.

The report also revealed that nearly half of holidaymakers plan to spend the same amount on their holidays next year (53%) while 31% said they planned to spend more than this year.

This positive note has also been reflected by the representatives of the tourism industry in Andalucía who have been working through a busy agenda of meetings at the WTM, held at London’s Excel centre.

The UK is the biggest international market for Andalusian destinations and the professionals and delegates from different authorities have come away with the message that the upward trend in visitor figures will continue this winter and next summer season.

Warning bells have been heard, however, regarding rising prices, although for the moment this is unlikely to affect demand.

Tourism secretary at the Junta de Andalucía Yolanda de Aguilar said as much after a meeting with a dozen UK tour operators and airlines on Wednesday. “The British want Andalucía, search for Andalucía and will continue to favour the destination.”

Before that, at a meeting with tour operator and airline Jet2, the fifth most important in terms of passenger numbers at Malaga Airport, executives told De Aguilar that demand for Andalusian destinations would grow by 10% a year to 2027. They also said that they would be looking beyond the Costa del Sol to expand their offer of flights to Almeria as well as starting to fly to Jerez Airport in Cadiz province.

British operators and airlines called for Andalucía to improve its winter offer, with lower prices, and create more offers for lesser-known destinations.

“They have told us that market forecasts are good, despite the prices,” said De Aguilar.

On Tuesday, the first day of the fair, De Aguilar gave positive figures. The region as a whole has recovered pre-pandemic numbers of British tourists and is also attracting visitors who spend more in the destination. These tourists are also increasingly travelling outside the high season and are spending more time throughout the region with a 10% increase in the number of Andalusian municipalities visited by British tourists so far this year.

“We are very satisfied with the results obtained in what is our main international issuing market. In addition to the fact that we are going to reach the records of 2019 in overnight stays of British tourists in the region is that we have managed to attract a visitor who has raised the average spend per person per day by 40% to 152 euros, with an average stay of one week,” De Aguilar said.

Along with these happy forecasts, representatives of Andalucía have also come away from London with the Best Stand prize awarded by the WTM organisers.

The space, covering almost 600 square metres, brought together a hundred companies from the region and its eight provinces.

The issue of rising prices for tourists was addressed in London by the president of Costa del Sol hotels association Aehcos, José Luque. “Prices will not go up next year to the extent that they have been doing in the last few years. We will continue to grow,” he said.

The president of the Consejo de Turismo de Andalucía, a tourism consultancy set up by the regional government, José Carlos Escribano, agreed that British tourists would continue to choose the Costa del Sol, with special emphasis on the first and fourth quarters of the year, which is contributing to year-round tourism. “The figures for this winter are better than last,” he said.

Turismo Costa del Sol CEO Esperanza González spoke about how Malaga province will win over more British tourists and encourage them to stay longer in the destination and spend more. She said they plan to increase investment in the UK next year to 1.5 million. This is an increase of 500,000 euros compared to the investment made this year.

She also said airlines have programmed 11% more seats on flights between Malaga Airport and the UK from October to December, resulting in 719,320 seats up for grabs.

Tourism councillors and directors from individual town halls were also working hard at the World Travel Market to boost visitor numbers to their resorts.

In the case of Malaga city, people were invited to enjoy the birthplace of Picasso, through a new campaign, in collaboration with the firm that operates the tourist buses in London, City Sightseeing.

The aim of the campaign was to attract not only British tourists but also those of other nationalities visiting London, giving them the idea of a trip to Malaga.

Malaga tourism councillor Jacobo Florido pointed out the loyalty of the British tourists who have booked 15% more hotel nights than last year, up to 135,000, and who spend more than the average visitor to Malaga city, some 160 euros per person per day.

Also in London, Torremolinos town hall launched a new campaign to promote active tourism. Hiking the Sun is the name of the campaign that also used tourist buses and screens at London Bridge station to get the message across that Torremolinos has mountains to explore as well as being the ideal venue for sports events.