The Costa Daurada seeks Irish tourists to replace the Russians

The invasion of Ukraine has put the finishing touch to an idyll of more than a decade between Russia and the beaches of the Costa Daurada. A very careful relationship for years on the Catalan side, as evidenced by the fact that in 2019 the share of overnight stays by Russians reached 19% in that area. “They were the third market”summarizes Jaume Orteu, president of the hotel association of the Costa Daurada and owner of a hotel group with a significant weight of Russian tourists.

After the pandemic, which produced a drastic drop in visitors, tourist businesses in the area hoped to recover a part of the Russian market this year. They were still thinking about how to get around the drawback that the percentage of the population that is vaccinated has been immunized with Sputnik -which is not approved by the European Medicines Agency and it does not give access to the covid passport- when the war broke out.

The forecasts for 2022 were, therefore, already quite restrictive before Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine: in all of Spain, reservations for this year were limited to 168,000 Russian travelers until then, 85% less than scheduled in 2019 But the war has ratified the sector, especially on the Costa Daurada, which must seek an alternative. “We didn’t have much hope anymore because of the Sputnik vaccine, but when the war was added to that we saw that there was no possibility“, assures Orteu.

The Russian tourist usually left a lot of money on his trips. “The worst thing is that we were the leaders in Spain in that market, and losing an important market hurts. A lot of work had been done, tourists kept coming back. Just this year the Polish market had also begun to work, and also the Ukrainian: a tour operator had already asked to go to Reus airport“, laments Xavier Guardià, president of the Business Federation of Hospitality and Tourism of the province of Tarragona.

A look at the newspaper library confirms how much the Catalan institutions had taken care of the Russian market. In 2011, when the arrival of tourists from that country was in full expansion, a gala was held in Port Aventura to recognize “the great contribution of Russian citizens to the tourism sector of the Tarragona coast”. During this act, and in the presence of representatives of several tour operators in the country, the then president of the Generalitat, Artur Mas, awarded an award to the Russian ambassador, Alexander Kuznetsov. Mas, who at that time underlined the “business friendly” profile of his Government, spoke at the gala that attracting travelers from that country was an “example of success”.

Vitaly confirms the longevity of that relationship. “I’ve been here for 20 years, and my wife and I have always worked with Russian tourism,” says this small hotelier from La Pineda. Another example: his restaurant is called Uncle Seriozha, but that is a rough translation, because it is only advertised in cyrillic characters. “Normal people aren’t scared of going to a Russian restaurant at the moment,” she adds. Although he has yet to open this season—he hopes to do so on May 1—he has already received several calls for reservations.

The Government, the Generalitat and the affected municipalities have moved quickly. Turespaña, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, the Catalan Tourism Agency and several mayors in the area have been holding meetings for weeks to study how to mitigate this decline in Russian tourism. Two weeks ago a plan was presented that, among other measures, identified the markets that could replace the visitors who would stop coming to the Costa Daurada.

Specifically, six countries of origin were selected: France, United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands. The first two are the main traditional markets in the area. As for Ireland, businessmen in the area expect a lot from it: already represents 7.5% of overnight stays on this coast of Tarragona.

Guardià maintains that “the Irish travel a lot, and have tastes and customs similar to British tourism”, which continues to be the first market on the Costa Daurada, with 30% of overnight stays. And that he also helps that Ryanair is an Irish airline that has direct flights to Reus.

From the Ministry of Tourism they give figures that could indicate that the plan is working. For example: Reus airport has 15% more international travelers scheduled between April 4 and 24 -Easter and surroundings- than it had in 2019, when Russian tourism had not yet evaporated.

“In 2022 we no longer expected the Russian tourist, because the vaccine was not recognizedand we hope that in the future the participation of this market in terms of overnight stays will be replaced by others such as the British, Irish or even Dutch”, said the Secretary of State for Tourism, Fernando Valdés, last Wednesday, after visiting Salou That municipality, the main destination for Russian tourists until now, is also being the protagonist of the promotional campaigns in these alternative markets that the Government has launched.

The mayor of Salou, Pere Granados, also puts his hopes, among others, in Irish tourism. “It is a small market but we are having a very good response”, he maintains. As small as the population of the island barely reaches five million inhabitants, compared to almost 150 million in Russia.