Spaniards Plan on Traveling More this Year

A survey carried out recently by lastminute.com concerning the holiday plans of Spaniards this year contains both good and bad news for the country’s tourist sector: on the one hand, the Spanish are hoping to travel Spaniards plan to travel more this year; but on the other hand they are tending towards last-minute bargain deals rather than booking in advance, and this makes it difficult for hotels and other businesses to take on staff on a permanent basis.

The survey reports that 92% of Spaniards are expecting to take at least two holidays during 2015, reflecting the general upturn in the economy and the fact that in general they have more disposable income.

The equivalent percentage in 2013 was 87%, so it can be deduced that travel is becoming more accessible within the budget of the average Spanish household. In fact, 35% of all those who took part in the survey expect to spend more on their holidays this year than in 2014, and almost 10% expect to spend double.

The other factor determining holidays is, of course, the time available. On average the Spanish who are in work enjoy 29.3 days off work every year, of which they intend to devote 19.45 days to trips away, and three quarters of them report that they are satisfied with their holiday allowance.

Despite the relative ease of travelling abroad these days, though, a very high percentage of those questioned (77%) name Spain among their preferred destinations. This is despite the fact that 58% of them claim that holidays represent a chance to enjoy new experiences!

Other preferred destinations show that the Spanish continue to prefer not to stray too far from home: the next most popular in the ranking are France (31%), Italy (25%), the UK (21%) and Portugal (19%).

Apart from gaining new experiences, the other factors named by the Spanish as being important in their choice of holidays include sunshine (47%), good food (42%) and widening their cultural horizons (34%).

At a more specific level, among the activities named by the Spanish as forming an important part of their holidays are sightseeing (66%), sunbathing (60%), walking (47%), theatre and opera (46%) and scuba diving (23%). The more adventurous pastimes named include taking balloon trips (16%), parachuting (15%) and swimming with sharks (5%)!

The bad news for the tourist sector as a whole (and, one suspects, the good news for lastminute.com) is that as many as 36% of the Spanish prefer to book their holidays within a fortnight of the start date, and 60% are willing to organize extra trips at the last minute in order to snap up bargain deals.

This of course pushes down the price of hotel accommodation, and last year hoteliers reported that this had resulted in a busier, but less profitable summer.

However, many areas rely almost exclusively on the Spanish holiday trade, so for them, any positive evolution in the travel plans of Spanish nationals is good news.