The seats that the airlines offer to fly to Spain this December exceed 5.7 million and already reach 81% of the air capacities of the same month of 2019, according to the data published today by Turespaña.
Reyes Maroto: “It is a clear symptom of the confidence that the destination Spain is managing to generate in international markets, together with the foreseeable visit of Spanish residents abroad for Christmas, many of whom did not come last year due to the restrictions that prevailed then. One year later, thanks to vaccination and effective management of the pandemic, the data shows that we are much better off, with the possibility of moving around and enjoying our leisure time safely, respecting the protection measures that are still in force.
Markets such as Poland or the Netherlands show a total recovery for this month of December, with a volume of programmed capacities higher than that of the same month of 2019 (+ 9.4% in the case of Poland, + 1.2% in the case of from the Netherlands). At the opposite extreme are countries that remain closed such as China, with a fall of -91.1% compared to December 2019; o Russia (-73.7%), affected by the EU restriction on non-essential travel.
In the case of the United States, the expected seats are around half of those flown in 2019 (-47.5%). From the UK, projected capacities are at 77.2% of December 2019 levels.
The forecasts for the December-February quarter are even better and place more European markets such as Denmark, Ireland or Switzerland in full recovery. However, it must be taken into account that the programming communicated by the airlines is far from being adjusted beyond a horizon of about three to six weeks, due to both market uncertainty and travel restrictions as well as regulations and European recommendations that oblige companies to cancel with limited horizon conditions to preserve their historical rights.
