Airlines Increase The Offer Of Flights For Easter ‘only’ For International Tourism

The airlines are preparing for an atypical Easter, with regional but not international restrictions, and are increasing their offer of flights for these dates. There will be a strange situation, which is that the Spaniards will not be able to move between provinces (that is, go on vacation), but we can go outside, since the closure is regional, not border. A man from Madrid cannot go to Cádiz, but a German can, as long as he flies direct and does not go to another autonomous community.

Despite the fact that the tourist sector considers Easter to be lost, the last cartridges are burned, especially on the islands. Companies with a connection between Spain and our main source markets (United Kingdom and Germany), such as Ryanair or Lufthansa, are expanding the offer of flights for these dates to try to attract at least international tourists, since the domestic will not be able to move from his community.

Ryanair is expanding its flight schedule, especially from Germany. It will offer 200 additional flights to those it already has that will connect Palma de Mallorca and Alicante with German cities such as Cologne, Berlin or Frankfurt during Easter.

This will mean an increase in capacity of almost 40,000 more seats on 22 different routes to travel from March 28 to mid-April, as announced on Tuesday. Many of these routes will continue to operate during the rest of the summer with flights available to book until March 2022. Lufthansa or Vueling will also expand the offer.

International demand

International tourists can come to Spain at Easter (despite the fact that all autonomous communities have been closed) as long as they arrive with a negative PCR carried out 72 hours before. Of course, it will not be able to move between provinces. In the same way, a Spaniard may leave the country but not move within the national territory.

The argument is, first, that there is no border closure in Europe as such. Second, international tourists entering Spain have to present a negative PCR, which reduces the risk, while national tourists do not have to take a test to go to another autonomous community.

According to data from Expedia, since the week of February 15, searches for Easter plans had tripled. That yes, it was before knowing that it would not be possible to go out at this time and neither in the bridge of San Josà ©, which is this weekend. The Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands tried to make an exception for the islands, since an antigen test or PCR is required to enter, but finally no exception was made for tourists from the peninsula, despite the fact that they are the main demand right now.

40% of the demand for Spanish destinations for Easter was national, followed by the United Kingdom (10%), the United States (10%), France (10%) and Sweden (5%). The five destinations most sought after by foreign travelers account for approximately 30% of all their searches, although the three that arouse the most interest among international tourists are Mallorca (5%), Tenerife (5%) and Barcelona (5%).

According to Expedia, two out of every three Spanish travelers (around 70%) opt for national destinations in their searches, and about 5% are studying destinations outside our borders: France, first (primarily Paris city ​​and Disneyland Paris), United States (5%), Mexico (5%) and Italy (5%).