Jet2.com has delayed the start of its international flights by two weeks. This new postponement announced on its website now sets the earliest date of the arrival of British tourists as July 15. As such the tourist industry in Benidorm is now considering changing the reopening date of their hotels, scheduled in many cases for the first week of July.
These are the thoughts of the president of the hotel association of the Costa Blanca (Hosbec), Toni Mayor, who says that there will be hoteliers who will delay their opening as they await the arrival of tourists from the United Kingdom, confirming the fact that many of them are focused completely on the British tourist, including Mayor himself.
The Hosbec president understands that if Jet2 delays it’s restart date, the reminder of the airlines will do likewise, as they continue to be devastated by the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and its measures. Among other things, there is a quarantine imposed for those arriving into Spain until the end of the month, and this could still be extended into July.
The British tour operator works directly with around 80 establishments in the Benidorm area and a considerable number have now been harmed by this decision.
Reservations for flights into Alicante airport, and accommodation, are now being taken on the Jet2.com website from July 15. Those who have bought their tickets will have the option to chnge the date. The air capacity will be lower than in previous years, where it reached 100 weekly flights in July 2019, but it is still a guarantee for businessmen in the sector, which would reactivate the activity in those who work with Jet2. Keep in mind that in Benidorm, around 50% of travellers come from international markets.
One of the hotel chains that works with Jet2.com is Med Playa, which has five establishments in Benidorm, of which two will open on 7 July. In reference as to whether the new delays to British flights will disrupt the plans, sources in the chain indicated that “all the decisions on reopening dates have been made with the Spanish market in mind.
For this reason, we will only initially open two of the five hotels in Benidorm. Therefore, the Jet2 announcement does not affect us, although, logically, we are uncomfortable with the decision as we await the return of the British to reopen the rest of the hotels. ”
However Toni Mayor believes that this is not the time to be in a hurry because there could still be consequences: bringing positive cases of covid-19 into the country. Mayor also points out that for now there is still no reliable data and estimates that it will be necessary to wait for the reactivation of national tourism from June 22 to know what the attitudes of the people are in before planning their summer holidays.
