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Tourism
Authority anticipates 500,000 in 2016 aided more than just advantageous prices for fuel, by a one third jump in the number of tobacco, food and retail shops is a bigger task
Nevertheless, the Caleta Hotel has a £45m plan to reduce its 4 star bedroom availability and diversify into 5 star boutique and serviced apartments with work starting late next year.
Ostuni reported development starting in April of the 120-bed Holiday Inn Express near to the airport to provide a
limited service, internationally branded product. It will be the first hotel to be built in Gibraltar for almost half a century. I cannot think of any tourist destination in the Mediterranean with an airport and a port that in this period has not increased bedroom stock”, Ostuni observed.
The Port has experi- enced a strong revival. In 2015 it ranked 28th out of 74 in terms of passenger movements at MedCruise member ports and classified third in terms of countries that last year experienced an increase in the number of port calls - up 12.7% to reach 204. This year 91 ships have booked to berth at Gibraltar on 227 occasions, at times bringing 6,000 passengers in a single day: but only 60% on average go ashore and most for less than half
a day.
Seeing is believing
Although coach tours are mainly used, many people choose to walk around the Rock. “People will see what we have improved and as we add innovations they can add those to their itinerary as well. What we want obviously is to entice them to call for longer and tell their friends,” Sacramento enthused.
Two turn-around cruises at Gibraltar this year “means that people will have to arrive in Gibraltar - probably by air - they are here for a full day and then they leave the following day. So it means they will be based in Gibraltar for quite a substantial period before the vessel leaves”, she added.
To improve standards, Gibraltar University has initiated a School of Hospitality and established a Tourism and Hospitality advisory group to identify areas for action.
Ostuni maintained: “Tourism should have a far more significant input into the local economy. It will probably be fair to say that discounting eGaming and financial services, 30% or 40% of natural Gibraltarians earn their living directly or indirectly from tourism: sadly many do not realise that it is so.” Ray Spencer
Lucien Mosquera
Samantha Sacramento
Franco Ostuni
scheduled landings from eight routes to the airport and a 41% rise in seat availability.
More staying power
The problem however, is seen as encouraging some of the estimated 60% or more people who use the airport as a gateway to southern Spain, to visit The Rock, whilst specifically attracting others to make it their intended destination.
Minister Sacramento told Parliament in June: “Room occupancy and sleeper occupancy may have fallen marginally, but ... supply has grown faster than demand, though
we are confident that this will catch up.” Guest nights offered were the highest since 1992 with the average stay rising to 4 nights – the highest since 1994 – and number of tourists staying overnight up by 8%.
New publicity giving details of upcoming Gibraltar popular and classical cultural events will entice air passengers to return across the Spanish border to the Rock, plus details of tourist attractions. Social media is to be deployed widely, encouraging people to use the hashtag #VisitGibraltar and create a strong following to promote Gibraltar on Facebook, tweet, retweet, instagram etc, during their stay
and their participation in local activities. In the last four years £3m has been spent on improvements to main attractions, particularly the Upper Rock, which has circa 800,000 visitors annually to see the famous apes, St Michael’s Cave, Siege Tunnels and other sites. Another £2m has gone into opening up walkways in the nature reserve and creating a high-level suspension bridge and an innovative glass walkway that opens this
spring. The greatest volume of
visitors is daily across the border from Spain and includes up to 12,000
workers; latest employment surveys show 1,500 have jobs in hotels and restaurants, a third being part-time, and most being Spanish and British ex-pats, with Gibraltarians accounting for very few.
Understanding business
Turning visitors into tourists who appreciate
and potentially a very rewarding one, suggested Dutch-born Mosquera, who started her business six months ago after a decade working for Gibraltar’s Anglo Hispano Company, where she observed the local hospitality business.
“Tourism is like running a company – there needs to be understanding of the target market - who they are, where they are and their needs - and a strategy for developing the entire product – the experience from beginning to end – as part of a business plan”, she argued.
There are some 150 restaurants, spurred in recent years by the development of Ocean Village, the upmarket marina, office and residential development. However, according to Mosquera, Gibraltar restaurants are “operating on razor thin margins – at or near breakeven. Tourists may have a nice shopping experience – it would be nice if there were more than the usual high street names, one that is quirky and maybe market- ing more of the streets”, Mosquera, a member of the Institute of Hospitality, suggested.
Competing for breaks
But key is defining Gibraltar as a quality, must-see destination. There is general consensus that Gibraltar needs to compete with other short break destinations in the Mediterranean, such as Malta and Cyprus, by promoting its unique position and history, as well as encouraging event-led tourism – the recent Backgammon tournament following an annual international chess tournament, held at the Caleta Hotel, are examples. Music and food festivals are proving popular also.
Sacramento noted: “We have more tour operators [10 are listed] from the UK than ever before offering holiday stays, more hotels and more flights.” The feedback when we meet with [operators] quarterly is that the more airline seats that are available to Gibraltar, and the more hotel bedrooms available to meet their needs, in terms of leisure, the better.”
Gibraltar now has fewer hotel bedrooms than 25 years ago, in part because poor returns have not encouraged investment. “Revenue and yields have not increased compared to other destinations, the very expensive airfares often force hotels to sacrifice margins in order to be competitive”, Ostuni pointed out.
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Gibraltar International
www.gibraltarinternational.com