After ‘celebrating’ the fact that the Iran War was going to draw more tourists to Spain this summer, uncertainty regarding fuel, flight cancellations and higher overall costs has left Spanish authorities doubting what’ll happen to the holiday season.
If you had to put your money on when the Iran War is going to end, when would it be? Next week, next month, next year?
Perhaps none of the above. Everyday we wake up to news that would have seemed implausible prior to the return of Donald Trump to the White House.
His chief strategist Steve Bannon dubbed this onslaught of shocking stories “muzzle velocity”: flood the media with quickfire, chaotic stories to control the narrative.
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What is clear is that none of us truly knows the full ramifications of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz on the global economy.
The EU has announced that we will likely have to resort to working from home to reduce fuel consumption and save energy.
Brussels has also recommended limiting air travel for work. Will they discourage holiday flights next?
KLM, Air Canada, Delta Airlines, Lufthansa and SAS have already announced the cancellation of hundreds of flights due to rising jet fuel costs.
Air France-KLM and IAG (which owns British Airways and Iberia) have said they’re going to put up prices.
Ryanair head Mike O’Leary has also warned of cuts and price hikes from May if the war rumbles on.
Spanish airline Volotea has reserved itself the right to charge extra on already purchased flights if kerosene gets pricier.
Uncertainly across the board.
And just a couple of weeks ago, Spain’s tourism alliance predicted that more international visitors would choose ‘refuge’ Spain this year due to concerns over travelling to or via the Middle East, even though the Iran conflict is set to make Spanish holidays more expensive.
Now Spain’s Tourism and Industry Minister Jordi Hereu isn’t quite so optimistic about the country breaking the record of 100 million tourists in a year, a milestone which seems rather trivial in the current scenario.
What isn’t so unimportant is that ordinary people both in Spain and overseas may not be able to afford to take a well-deserved vacation this summer, or face the prospect of having their pre-booked flights cancelled, and not be able to pay through the nose for pricey alternatives.
“The purchasing power of Germans, Italians, and the French affects us; these are factors that could diminish our appeal,” Hereu stated.
In 2025, Spain received over 96 million foreign tourists, according to data from Spain’s INE National Institute of Statistics, and the majority travelled here by plane.
So is a summer road trip the best alternative? Fuel prices at service stations in Spain have already exceeded levels not seen since the end of 2022, although the government’s VAT cut has reduced the price of diesel by 20 cents and the price of petrol by 30 cents.
Perhaps driving to (or within) Spain for a holiday this summer is the best bet, not that that’s an option for everyone.
We thought we’d waved goodbye to the days of unpredictable travel when we put Covid-19 behind us. Not so, it seems.