The massive arrival of tourists in summer means, for the hotel industry in the coastal areas, an increase in income in their boxes that helps them survive the months of low season, when they are forced to reduce their services or even close more than half of the bars, as in the Balearic Islands.
Precisely the Balearic Islands, together with Andalusia, are the two communities where the most Spaniards will travel this summer to spend their holidays, with 30% each, as reflected in a study carried out by the Hello Safe financial product comparator.
This increase in tourists, both national and international, allows bars, restaurants and beach bars to achieve a turnover that helps them pay bills and maintain business for the rest of the year.
This was explained by the president of the Business Federation for Restoration of the Balearic Islands (Ferib), Alfonso Robledo, who has estimated that around 60% of the bars in areas such as Formentera, Ibiza or Menorca have to close after the summer.
The closest thing to those places the rest of the year is the “desert”, therefore, when the hotels close after the high season, “the bars are behind”.
In addition, within the cocktail that causes more than half of the establishments in certain areas of the Balearic Islands to be forced to close, there is also a decrease in available flights, which has an impact on the entry of tourists.
Robledo has indicated that the strategy of many hoteliers is to raise the prices of drinks in summer in order to be able to bill more and achieve savings.
However, from another of the communities with the most visitors in summer, Andalusia, the president of the Cádiz hotel management association, Horeca, Antonio de María Ceballos, has denied that Cadiz establishments have to raise prices in order to survive the rest of the year. .
And he has referred to the occupancy data during the summer months in the restoration to demonstrate the ability to save; The “record” figures leave tourist areas such as El Puerto de Santa María with 79.85% occupancy in July 2023, almost 8% more than in 2019, before the pandemic.
De María has differentiated between beach bars and the rest of the bars and restaurants; These first ones do close at the end of the season, because thanks to their boxes, they have the ability to survive economically until the following summer.
It is enough for the rest of the bars and restaurants to “adapt” to the drop in demand, especially by reducing the number of staff and services available.
Both the province of Cádiz and the Balearic Islands are some of the areas where the number of diners triples and grows exponentially during the summer, as indicated by the president of the Spanish Hospitality Association, José Luis Yzuel.
For Yzuel it is “obvious” that the “vast majority” of the coastal towns see their population increase in a timely manner with the arrival of summer and, with it, the number of people who host the bars.
In this way, the summer months serve as an “incentive” and “incentive”, which compensates for later keeping it open all year with a turnover that, in some cases, is “survival”, Yzuel pointed out.
The three representatives of the hoteliers have coincided in highlighting the added difficulty that the increase in the volume of work during the summer in the search for personnel supposes for the establishments.
The fact that there is more demand during a specific period forces hoteliers to do without staff for the rest of the year, which later makes it difficult to hire for two or three months of high season.
In Yzuel’s opinion, the hiring problem is the main obstacle faced by hoteliers who have their businesses in summer tourist areas, but faced with this problem, which is already chronic, the sector “adapts” and seeks solutions.
