Tenerife Faces Tourism Drop
The cost of a holiday in Tenerife, like many other popular destinations
, has come down in real terms in recent years.A great deal of this is down to lower airfares, with low cost carriers flying to Tenerife and the other Canary Islands from the UK, Ireland and other parts of Europe, at a significantly lower cost than their competitors.
But are cheap flights to Tenerife because of some airlines ability to be more efficient than others - or is it because holiday destinations know that more airlines equals more flights, which in turn means more tourists arriving, and they are prepared to give preferential treatment over exisiting carriers, allowing flights to come down in price for some, but not all airlines?
For Tenerife it's possible that it's come to the stage where some tour operators feel that the playing field is so uneven it's difficult for them to win in a fair fight - and could stop offering holidays at all.
The island would be the loser as the major tour operators don't just offer flights - hotels, car hire and excursions are often offered, and any gain in more people currently taking low cost flights to Tenerife will be more than offset by the number of holidaymakers lost who take package holidays.
In recent years tour operators have found it harder to compete anyway as more people have been acting as their own travel agent via the internet, booking their hotels, car hire and flights seperately.
But if tour operators did pull out it could really hurt Tenerife as there is a swing back towards what tour operators do best at the moment - package holidays.
As the Euro - used by Spain as her currency - has increased in value against the British currency - Sterling - British holidaymakers have been discovering holiday destinations cheaper than Tenerife, notably Egypt and Turkey.
Package holidays offered by tour operators have been one way to fight against currency fluctuations, with many tourists taking all inclusive options and taking their meals at their Tenerife hotels - take away some of the tour operators and potentially tens of thousands of tourists will look elsewhere if the island isn't given as an option.
But it's not just because the tour operators are able to all inclusive holidays in Tenerife for those who want it - a recent event highlighted to many the benefit of booking with a company like Thomson or Thomas Cook Holidays:
The volcanic ash cloud that grounded flights for a week in Europe left tens of thousands of tourists stranded, and those who had booked their flights and accommodation independently were often left to organise their own way home.
But for those who had book with major tour operators like Thomas Cook and Thomson Holidays, they were in luck as the companies went the extra mile to provide accommodation and meals, along with organising their clients to be on flights home as soon as they could. Some even travelled back to Britain on a brand new cruise ship...quite a contrast to the independent travellers who made their way home at considerable expense overland.
Now is not the time for Tenerife to consider trading off the tour operators against the attraction of low cost flights.
The island needs to keep both happy, and to help the holidays and hotel trade in uncertain economic times.
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