The Spanish outbound market for summer is just 25% below 2019 levels, but certain destinations, such as Egypt, are recording considerably greater booking volumes than before the pandemic. This is according to ForwardKeys, a travel data analytics provider and collaborative partner of CEAV, the Spanish Confederation of Travel Agencies.

While national tourism is rebounding at a significant pace, travel agencies, which depend on outbound tourism, MICE and business travel, are recovering somewhat more slowly. However, data provided by ForwardKeys points towards a promising summer for travel agencies.

As countries continue to lift restrictions, Spaniards are being encouraged to travel abroad. The destinations consequently showing the highest growth for July and August as compared with 2019 levels are Egypt (+81%), the United Arab Emirates (+39%), Sweden (+36%), Tanzania (+28%), Greece (+23%), the Dominican Republic (+21%), Qatar (+21%), France (+20%), the Maldives (+10%), Argentina and Norway (both +6%).

Carlos Garrido, President, CEAV, said: “Given that a large proportion of these kinds of trips are booked through travel agencies, these figures give us cause for optimism and reason to believe that we can have a positive season this year following two years with very few sales. In the post-Covid era, people tend to book their trips at the last minute, so the numbers may yet increase further.”

Juan A Gómez, Head of Market Intelligence, ForwardKeys, explains that although bookings for total outbound travel remain low compared with 2019 levels – and far below the impressive figures reflecting travel to Spain from the international market – the number of Spanish visitors to certain international destinations is set to grow significantly compared with summer 2019. “Travel agencies will have a crucial role to play when it comes to transmitting confidence to the Spanish tourist in this summer of travel recovery,” he says.