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Tourism
New attractions, hotel and infrastructure investments
More flights and multi-million pound investments are set to give Gibraltar’s tourist sector a much-needed boost over the next 2-3 years,
Ray Spencer reports The collapse of Monarch Airlines in
October 2017 was “catastrophic” for Gibraltar, causing a 40% immediate reduction in flights to the jurisdiction from the UK, high hotel room
cancellations and financial loss. The 5-star Sunborn floating hotel with 186
rooms at Ocean Village “lost £0.5m of bookings overnight and it obviously affected our profits”, reports Hans Niemi, group executive director for the Finnish hospitality and development conglomerate.
Within 24 hours, the 4-star Caleta Hotel faced 820 room-night cancellations; “the impact was huge and I think it was similar for every other hotel in Gibraltar”, suggests Franco Ostuni, the Caleta’s general manager.
Gibraltar’s government is seeking over £300,000 in unpaid Monarch departure, landing and parking fees from administrators, KPMG. The estimated income from the airport this financial year at £4.65m is 23% below that
originally estimated for 2017-18. The two remaining airlines serving Gibraltar
are increasing their schedules. In December easyJet will add a fourth flight each week from Bristol using larger aircraft, and will also launches a London Luton service twice a week, while British Airways (BA) will have four extra flights from Heathrow.
The net effect is that there will be 193,300 available seats - 41% more - this winter from five airports compared to 2017, but that still will be a fifth less than the 2016 winter offering. As Gilbert Licudi, minister for tourism, observes: “We clearly are not quite at the level we were before Monarch collapsed...we still have a lot of work to do”.
Gibraltar Tourist Board (GTB) is trying to persuade new airlines to commit, but chief executive Nicky Guerrero, points to a lack of hub airport landing slots, suitable uncommitted aircraft to land at the RAF-run airfield (with the sea at either end) and specially-trained pilots.
“I don’t think in the short term there is another operator with the ability to serve Gibraltar”, he admits, adding: “Airlines have differing operating models; some operate to destinations that have a slightly higher leisure capacity and where they can offer holidays too.”
Superbreak, the Leeds-based tour operator, intends offering charter flights from several UK regional airports from Easter, it is
understood, having failed this year to gain sufficient spare aircraft. BA is believed to be again running London Gatwick summer services from end-March; easyJet’s Manchester service also is expected to be enhanced from mid- August.
Bump in the road
Niemi sees the drop in flights, coupled with a steep rise in air fares, as “a bump in the road” even though 80% of Sunborn guests fly to Gibraltar. “The market gradually will come back so that by next year, hopefully, we will see growth.” Withfewerclients,“wehavetohavea higher rates policy – ours has been going up by double figures. We frequently are selling rooms at €300+”, he explains.
This summer the Caleta Hotel reduced its 124 rooms to 66 to replace them with a a niche, top-end 44-room ‘Suites at Caleta’ hotel within 2-3 years at a cost of £15m.
The same firm in late-May opened a 120- bed, 4th generation Holiday Inn Express (HIE) hotel close to the airport, a £12m investment franchised by InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) that was full to capacity within four days of launch and at end-September still had 100+- rooms per night booked on average. Its 3-star+ double rooms at £85-95 a night, including breakfast, provided 24 new hospitality jobs.
Franco Ostuni, who also is responsible for
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12 Gibraltar International
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