The president of the Consell Insular, Susana Mora, presented the tourism campaign for 2023 at Fitur, in an event held at the Balearic Islands stand.
The agenda of meetings held at Fitur confirms that Menorca continues to be attractive to outbound markets and forecasts point to the consolidation of the work carried out by the FFTM to reduce seasonality.
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Menorca
This year, Menorca’s tourism promotion campaign gives voice to the people who have visited the island. The president of the Consell Insular de Menorca and the Fundación Fomento del Turismo, Susana Mora, presented the video of the new promotional campaign today at Fitur, in which a group of Spanish, English, French, German and Italian tourists, men and women of all ages, are in charge of explaining the tourist attractions Menorca has to offer.
At an event held at the Balearic Islands stand, Susana Mora pointed out that “our best ambassadors are the people who have visited us and who have soaked up the essence of Menorca. There is no one better to show what Menorca is really like”. According to Mora, visiting Menorca allows us to see the Menorcans’ esteem “for our land, our identity and our roots; an esteem that has led us to preserve the territory and turn sustainability into a sign of identity. Menorca is the place to enjoy small, natural and sustainable pleasures 365 days a year”, he added.
The video of the campaign “Minorca, the island of small pleasures” includes real testimonies of people who explain what has captivated them about Minorca: the crystal clear waters of the coves of Minorca, the tranquillity and freedom that is lived on the island, the unique cuisine, the good state of preservation of the natural environment or the wide variety of sports activities are some of the small pleasures that have left stuck in the memory of travellers who participate in the campaign. This year’s tourism promotion is a continuation of the messages that were reinforced last year, linking Menorca as a destination to genuine, quality tourism experiences. The promotional video, two minutes long, is available on Turismo Menorca’s Youtube channel:
Video ‘Menorca, the island of small pleasures’.
Two international events
In the year of the 30th anniversary of its declaration as a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO, Menorca will be the protagonist of two international events related to sustainability. At the meetings that the island’s Director of Tourism Promotion and European Funds, Laura Ruiz, held at Fitur with representatives of the Spanish Tourism Offices (OTS) in Paris and London, the details of both events have been finalised, which will take place on 16 March at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris, where there will be a presentation accompanied by a tasting of the island’s gastronomy and local produce, and on 26 April in London, where Spain’s Sustainability Day has been organised to showcase the initiatives being carried out in the field of tourism and as a destination as a whole.
“The fact that Turespaña has chosen Menorca to participate in these initiatives is not a coincidence, it is a coincidence,” says president Susana Mora. “It is the result of the work we have been carrying out on the island for many years, of the clear commitment to preserve and care for a territory that today, we can say, is a benchmark in sustainability. The fact that the actions are taking place in the capitals of two of the destination’s most important outbound markets helps us to consolidate the messages we want to send out to the world so that we are recognised and positioned as what we are: an island with many attractions and a wide variety of tourist experiences linked to sustainability that can be enjoyed 365 days a year,” she added.
Connectivity
For airlines and tour operators, Menorca continues to be an attractive and well-positioned destination. This is confirmed by the meetings held over the last two days at the Fitur fair, which point to the consolidation of the work carried out by the FFTM to make progress in reducing seasonality and redistributing tourist flows to achieve a better balance in visitor arrivals. Forecasts to date indicate that, for 2023, the parameters will be similar to the previous year, with the months of March and April, in terms of supply of places to fly to Menorca, maintaining the trend that began last year and which represented a significant leap compared to 2019.
The Spanish market will continue to lead the outbound markets. This year, Menorca loses its direct routes to Granada and Pamplona and gains a new connection to Almeria, which will be operational from 25 February. The route to Oviedo is also scheduled to be three months ahead of 2022 and operations are set to begin on 25 February. Connections to Alicante and Seville will also start at the end of March.
In the outbound markets as a whole, from 27 March the island will have connections to 11 international airports in 5 different countries. These are London-Gatwick (United Kingdom), Paris-Orly (France), Treviso (Italy), Brussels (Belgium), Marseille (France), East Midlands (United Kingdom), Lisbon (Portugal), Manchester (United Kingdom), Toulouse (France), Bordeaux (France) and Belfast (Northern Ireland). To this figure must be added the connection with 11 other domestic airports (Barcelona, Valencia, Madrid, Palma de Mallorca, Bilbao, Malaga, Ibiza, Oviedo, Almeria, Seville and Alicante).
Some routes will also be strengthened by a greater diversity of airlines operating from the same airport. This is the case of Portugal, which only had connectivity with Menorca through tour operation, and which this year will be linked with Easyjet and TAP for the first time. Also with Eivissa, from the 16th of February will have flights with Iberia two days a week (Mondays and Thursdays), which will be added to the frequencies now offered by Uep Fly.
During the meetings at Fitur, the Eurowings company, which connects with Cologne and Düsseldorf, explained that the forecast is to maintain the same number of seats as in 2022, although they are registering a good pace of sales. To date, 40% of the seats for the months of April and May and 30% of the seats for June, July and August have already been sold. Also in the German market, Eurowings Discover is starting to operate the Frankfurt-Menorca route this year from 28th April, a route also covered by TUI fly.
As for TUI, it is forecasting a 3 % increase in seats this year in all the markets with which it has connections to the island and, according to its representatives at Fiutur today, sales are going at a good pace. Tour operators from the British market also continue to bet on Menorca. Jet2 plans to increase the number of seats by 3% and is maintaining the start of operations at the beginning of April. In global terms, the German and Italian markets are showing downward trends, while France continues on its upward curve and the attraction of the French to the island is on the rise.
For the president, “the important work for Menorca is to continue to strengthen connectivity. It is a key and decisive factor for the tourism sector, to ensure that all the people who have fallen in love with the island and want to return, and the people who want to discover and enjoy it, can do so at any time of the year. It also means providing opportunities for Menorcans to travel and be connected to the world. This is our roadmap”.