Death knell for package holidays to Spain

Residential tourism will kill off package holidays to Spain in the next five years, former TUI boss Shaun Powell has predicted.

The former Thomson Holidays and TUI Spain managing director made the prediction at the official launch of his new Spanish property service, Lighthouse Spain.

He said changing demographics would lead to the death of the traditional two weeks in the sun apart from at a few core package holiday resorts such as Benidorm.

“I can’t think of anywhere else that will remain a traditional package holiday destination in the next five years; it’ll all be gone,” he said.

“Residential tourism is taking such huge volumes out of the package holiday that it will not be economical for the traditional players to stay in Spain.”