Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Counting the cost of the volcanic ash

As the news is now filled with horror stories of passengers stranded thousands of miles from home, we wonder what the impact of this disruption will be on the tourism and property markets in Spain and elsewhere ?
Sure, anybody stranded is being forced into staying and spending (the airlines) money in bars and restaurants, but that is out of necessity rather than the same as a more free-spending holiday.
But as for all of those that haven't been able to travel yet - will they be able to fit their bookings in again or simply take a refund and give up ?
Airlines may have to put their prices up, to compensate for lost revenue, which may further deter UK based travellers from flying to the eurozone, and possibly investing in property.
The economies of countries, airlines, and property markets were all in a pretty shaky situation anyway, without this latest setback.

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