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SURVEY

SURVEY: Are you planning to travel abroad this summer despite the pandemic?

Many international residents living around Europe are desperately hoping to be able to travel this summer. Please take a minute to complete a quick survey to let us know why you intend to travel and what complications you face.

Published: 26 May 2021 16:47 CEST
Updated: 29 May 2021 14:21 CEST
SURVEY: Are you planning to travel abroad this summer despite the pandemic?
(Photo by ALEX WONG / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

International residents living in around Europe have for the most part been unable to travel abroad for over a year. 

For many this has meant being unable to see close family and friends back home.

Many are desperately hoping to travel this summer but with the rise of Covid-19 variants and ongoing restrictions at borders it is not clear whether they will be able to travel abroad.

Please take a minute to take part in this quick survey of readers. We will use the information and responses you provide for a future article on travel.

If the survey does not load below you can click here to start.

 

Member comments

  1. I just completed your survey and only after I submitted it did a message appear saying thatI consent for you to use my name. THIS FEELS ODDLY DISHONEST ON YOUR PRT. I WOULD NOT HAVE SUBMITTED HAD I KNOWN IN ADVANCE. I DO NOT CONSENT.PLEASE DO NOT USE MY NAME. PKEASE WITHDRAW MY SUBMISSION.

    1. Hi j.lovenduski, the article states just above the survey that “We will use the information and responses you provide for a future article on travel”. We won’t use your name without your consent and will withdraw your submission as requested. Have a good day!

  2. Sadly, I must agree with j.lovenduski. I was surprised to see that I had consented to the use of my name after I had submitted the survey. Had I been notified at the point my name was requested, I could have made an informed decision. As such, I refuse to consent to have my name being used. Please withdraw my submission.

  3. Mea culpa. I just read the introduction to the survey and I see that it clearly states that my name will be used.
    I apologize for the above comment. Feel free to use my survey and name.

    I think this is a very interesting and useful upcoming topic. I would be curious to learn the results of the survey.

    Cheers, Michael.D

    1. No worries, Michael! Thanks for responding to the survey – we’ll share the results in an article, hopefully soon. Have a great day!

  4. Of course I am going to travel . The only ones the French don’t want are the British . Brexit has come and bitten them on their bottoms . Oh Gawd the Empire really has crashed and I am an Old Etonian laughing my head off .

  5. Of course I am going to travel . The only ones the French don’t want are the British . Brexit has come and bitten them on their bottoms .

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TRAVEL NEWS

Why are fewer British tourists visiting Spain this year?

Almost 800,000 fewer UK holidaymakers have visited Spain in 2023 when compared to 2019. What’s behind this big drop?

Published: 23 August 2023 11:36 CEST
Updated: 26 August 2023 18:32 CEST
Why are fewer British tourists visiting Spain this year?

Spain welcomed 12.2 million UK tourists between January and July 2023, 6 percent less when compared to the same period in 2019, according to data released on Monday by Spanish tourism association Turespaña.

This represents a decrease of 793,260 British holidaymakers for Spain so far this year.

Conversely, the number of Italian (+8 percent), Irish (+15.3 percent), Portuguese (+24.8 percent), Dutch (+4 percent) and French tourists (+5 percent) visiting España in 2023 are all above the rates in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year. 

German holidaymakers are together with their British counterparts the two main nationalities showing less interest in coming to Spanish shores.

Britons still represent the biggest tourist group that comes to Spain, but it’s undergoing a slump, with another recent study by Caixabank Research suggesting numbers fell particularly in June 2023 (-12.5 percent of the usual rate). 

READ ALSO: Spain fully booked for summer despite most expensive holiday prices ever

So are some Britons falling out of love with Spain? Are there clear reasons why a holiday on the Spanish coast is on fewer British holiday itineraries?

According to Caixabank Research’s report, the main reasons are “the poor macroeconomic performance of the United Kingdom, the sharp rise in rates and the weakness of the pound”.

This is evidenced in the results of a survey by British market research company Savanta, which found that one in six Britons are not going on a summer holiday this year due to the UK’s cost-of-living crisis.

Practically everything, everywhere has become more expensive, and that includes holidays in Spain: hotel stays are up 44 percent, eating out is 13 percent pricier, and flights are 40 percent more on average. 

READ ALSO: How much more expensive is it to holiday in Spain this summer?

Caixabank stressed that another reason for the drop in British holidaymakers heading to Spain is that those who can afford a holiday abroad are choosing “more competitive markets” such as Turkey, Greece and Portugal. 

And there’s no doubt that the insufferably hot summer that Spain is having, with four heatwaves so far, has also dissuaded many holidaymakers from Blighty from overcooking in the Spanish sun. 

With headlines such as “This area of Spain could become too hot for tourists” or “tourists say it’s too hot to see any sights” featuring in the UK press, budding British holidaymakers are all too aware of the suffocating weather conditions Spain and other Mediterranean countries are enduring. 

Other UK outlets have urged travellers to try out the cooler Spanish north rather than the usual piping hot Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol destinations.

Another UK poll by InsureandGo found that 71 percent of the 2,000+ British respondents thought that parts of Europe such as Spain, Greece and Turkey will be too hot to visit over summer by 2027.

There’s further concern that the introduction in 2024 of the new (and delayed) ETIAS visa for non-EU visitors, which of course now also applies to UK nationals, could further compel British tourists to choose countries to holiday in rather than Spain.

READ MORE: Will British tourists need to pay for a visa waiver to enter Spain?

However, a drop in the number of British holidaymakers may not be all that bad for Spain, even though they did spend over €17 billion on their Spanish vacations in 2022. 

Towns, cities and islands across the country have been grappling with the problem of overtourism and the consequences it has on everything from quality of life for locals to rent prices. 

READ ALSO: ‘Beach closed’ – Fake signs put up in Spain’s Mallorca to dissuade tourists

The overcrowded nature of Spain’s beaches and most beautiful holiday hotspots appears to be one of the reasons why Germans are visiting Spain in far fewer numbers. A recent report in the country’s most read magazine Stern asked “if the dream is over” in their beloved Mallorca.

Spanish authorities are also seeking to overhaul the cheaper holiday package-driven model that dominates many resorts, which includes moving away from the boozy antics of young British and other European revellers.

Fewer tourists who spend more are what Spain is theoretically now looking for, and the rise in American, Japanese and European tourists other than Brits signify less of a dependence on the British market, one which tends to maintain the country’s tourism status quo for better or for worse.

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