Latest news with #Escarrer
Edinburgh Live
15-07-2025
- Business
- Edinburgh Live
UK tourists in Majorca issued chilling 'warning' which 'cannot wait any longer'
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info British holidaymakers have been hit with a stern warning as anti-tourist sentiment surges in the Balearic Islands, particularly affecting Majorca. The island has seen an upsurge in protests against tourism, with a stark message being broadcasted to UK visitors. In Majorca, the Arran Mallorca movement, part of the youth wing of the pro-Catalan independence Arran Jovent, has released a video that delivers a direct message: "With tourism, locals are losing out. Young people: get organised." Affiliated with a leftist Catalan independence party, the Arran movement is calling for action, stating: "It is no longer enough to just talk about limiting population while the Majorcan society continues to grow, it needs to decrease now and we cannot wait any longer." They also expressed their dissatisfaction with the commercialisation of their home, saying, "We are not proud that our island has been sold to Escarrer, Barcelo or Fluxa," referencing prominent hoteliers Gabriel Escarrer, Simón Pedro Barceló, and Miguel Fluxà. With mounting frustration, the group declared: "We are fed up and ready to face it! The political class is responsible for our misery. They have put economic interests above our lives and have given Majorca away to private capital. With tourism, local are losing out. Young people: get organised," reports Birmingham Live. On X, which has taken over from Twitter, Arran Mallorca captioned their campaign video with a decisive call to action: "We demand change, we demand decrease!" They added further criticism: "We young women are being pushed into poverty while hoteliers are making a fortune thanks to the political class. "We are fed up with our land being commercialised, while the working class is always the one who suffers the most." Spain, which holds the title of the world's second-most favoured tourist hotspot after France, has clocked a record-breaking 21.8 million international visitors last summer, eclipsing previous tallies and coinciding with widespread anti-tourism demonstrations. This spike represents a 7.3% uptick on 2023 figures, as reported by the national statistics body INE. In the peak month of July alone, Spain played host to an astonishing 10.9 million tourists, a number matched by August's influx, underlining the magnitude of tourism drawn by this Iberian nation, INE detailed.
Skift
10-06-2025
- Business
- Skift
Meliá Hotels CEO Eyes Growth in Emerging Destinations as U.S. Travelers Boost European Resorts
Meliá's ability to stay profitable while expanding is notable. CEO Gabriel Escarrer tells Skift he's turning the group into a global resort operator, not just a Mediterranean one. Leaders of Travel: Skift C-Suite Series What are the top trends impacting hotels, airlines, and online bookings? We speak to the executives shaping the future of travel. What are the top trends impacting hotels, airlines, and online bookings? We speak to the executives shaping the future of travel. Learn More Meliá Hotels is seeing continued strength in travel demand across its portfolio, led by solid leisure and urban bookings in Spain and Latin America, even as economic uncertainty lingers. CEO Gabriel Escarrer told Skift the company is experiencing what he calls a 'healthy normalization' of rates and occupancy. 'We haven't seen any slowdown in demand so far,' Escarrer said. Escarrer highlighted Madrid as one of the company's strongest markets, with the Spanish capital not only recovering but surpassing pre-pandemic visitor numbers. Meliá operates two dozen properties in Madrid. Meliá's Spanish resort properties, particularly in the Canary Islands and Mediterranean coast, continue to see strong occupancy rates driven by international visitors from the U.S., Britain, and France. "The number of U.S. customers going to our resorts in the Mediterranean, to Spain, to Italy, to Greece, to Portugal, is even
Reuters
08-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Hotel chain Melia sees higher 2025 summer sales in Spain as tourism boom continues
MADRID, May 8 (Reuters) - Spain's largest hotel chain Melia ( opens new tab expects summer sales in its home country to rise this year compared to 2024, Chief Executive Gabriel Escarrer told shareholders on Thursday. Leisure travel demand remains strong in Spain, with tourist numbers rising 5.7% year-on-year in the first quarter after a record 94 million tourists were registered in 2024, according to the latest official data. Some airlines and the travel booking system Amadeus have warned of a slowdown in global air traffic compared to last year caused by weather disruptions in the United States and the introduction of trade barriers. "Despite the caution we must maintain in the current turbulent environment, we continue to see no signs of a slowdown in reservations for 2025," Escarrer said during the company's annual shareholders meeting. During Easter week, the beginning of the high season in Spain, Melia recorded a double-digit increase in both the number of guests and average room prices from a year ago, Escarrer added. Melia expects a single-digit increase in revenue per room in 2025 as the company focuses on luxury accommodation to better benefit from the tourism boom. Melia will release first-quarter results later on Thursday.
Reuters
10-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Spanish hotel chain Melia buys housing for its workers as rents surge
MADRID, March 10 (Reuters) - Spanish hotel chain Melia ( opens new tab is buying property to accommodate seasonal workers who can't afford to rent in tourism hot spots as a housing crisis risks causing labour shortages in the country's tourism industry, its CEO Gabriel Escarrer said. Melia, Spain's biggest hotel chain, has bought a former hostel on the Balearic island of Menorca and is looking to make further acquisitions in Ibiza and Mallorca as well as in the Canary islands and on the Spanish mainland to house its workforce during the summer high season, Escarrer said in an interview. "Due to the boom in short-term rentals for tourists, finding an apartment for the season has become an Odyssey," Escarrer said, adding that paying employees well is no longer enough to retain talent. "What we have done is make sure we have housing for our workforce." A housing crisis in Spain caused by a sharp fall in new home construction since the 2012 property crash is being exacerbated by a short-term letting boom to tourists on platforms such as Airbnb (ABNB.O), opens new tab. Spain received a record 94 million tourists last year, with three out of 10 visitors choosing to stay in holiday homes rather than hotels, according to official data. Buying housing is a radical solution for Melia, which in the past two years has been forced to accommodate some staff in hotel rooms to prevent them from quitting, Escarrer said. But for many hotel owners, giving workers a home is not an option, Ramón Estalella, general director of Spain's hotels group CEHAT. "Not everyone can afford (to provide) housing and a salary for their staff. It is not a widespread solution," he said. Unions warn that hotel workers' salaries rose 3% last year while rents in Spain increased by an average of 11.5% in 2024, according to Idealista, a property listings website. In hot spots such as the Balearics residents have been forced to live in caravans due to rising rents. "Wages are not rising like hotel margins and housing is a problem in tourist areas," said Jose Maria Martinez, a union leader for the hotel sector at CCOO. In the Canary Islands, CCOO called for a two-day strike in hotels over the Easter week to demand better wages. Local authorities in top tourist destinations have begun to restrict permits for holiday rentals while Barcelona and the Balearics have increased tourist taxes in response to residents' protests about mass tourism. Escarrer said banning tourists from staying in holiday homes in city centres would also help preserve Spain's cultural identity, pointing out how La Boqueria market in downtown Barcelona has become overrun by tourists. "Fifteen years ago La Boquería was ideal for interacting with the people of Barcelona and today the market receives tourists who only go there to take photos," he said.
