US tourism giant Apple Leisure Group (ALG) it redoubles its commitment to Spain. After closing 2020 with 36 hotels in Europe (33 in Spain and 3 in Greece), the goal that has been set for this year is to end 2021 with 47 hotels, of which 44 would go in Spain. In an interview with Cinco Dias, Javier Coll, President of Global Development at ALG, stresses that the vast majority of hotels will continue to be in the Balearic and Canary Islands, where they began their first stage of growth, but that assets will also be opened in the Peninsula in the short term. “We have made the leap to the Peninsula. We are already opening hotels in Alicante and on the Costa del Sol and I don’t know if we will get to the Costa Brava. That does not mean that we continue to look for opportunities in the archipelagos, because there are still islands where we do not have a presence, ”says Coll.
If the forecasts set in the last strategic plan are met, the company could close 2021 with almost as many hotels in Europe (47) as in America (57) when it entered the European market just a couple of years ago. “There are four destinations that are a priority for us: Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal. We want to have a presence in everyone. We already have assets in two (Spain and Greece) and we want to have in another two (Italy and Portugal). And then there are other destinations, such as Turkey or Croatia, more opportunistic than if a business opportunity arises, it will have to be valued “, Coll emphasizes.
The company’s latest long-term strategic plan, which predicted there would be 150 hotels by 2025, is being reviewed. “We are updating it upwards for 2026. I think that date we can reach 170 and 180 hotels, and that there are as many hotels in Europe as in the US, because there are many more destinations and many more hotels in Europe ”.
Content optimism
Despite this, the short-term scenario is radically different. On the one hand, the United States, where mass vaccination began in February. “Since that date, people’s perception has changed. It will reach 70% of the population, considered as herd immunity, very quickly. Since February, reservations in the travel part have started to take off and if you compare them with the same dates in 2019, the growth has skyrocketed so far. The same is going to happen in Europe, but with a few months of delay ”. In fact, he confesses that if the United Kingdom lifts the restrictions on travel to Spain at the beginning of June, the company has designed an accelerated opening plan to cover the possible accumulated demand since March 2020. “The few hotels that we have announced that we were going to open they are already at 70% or 80% occupancy ”.
Coll confesses that in Europe, as in the United States, national demand will be the one that pulls the travel industry. “The Spanish market is going to move. After a year and a half of not being able to do things, the families’ savings and the desire to get out will be fundamental. Then foreign tourism will come. First the Germans, who depend on the rate of vaccination, and then the British, who depend on whether the United Kingdom abandons its protectionist tendency ”.
The problems connecting the US and Europe
Passports Coll highlights the difficulties in moving tourism from the US to Europe, something they could do by taking advantage of the group’s synergies. “Only 40% of the 330 million inhabitants in the United States have a passport and of that number, only 10% use it. In Europe everyone has a passport ”
Italy. It is the next European destination they want to explore. “There are no large chains like in Spain and that leads us to buy management companies. It is the best way to enter, with equipment and contracts ”.
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