Gran Canaria
Hopeful reports for the Gran Canaria holidays market has come from the same source that has seen the number of UK visitors slip to the island in the last couple of years - the Foreign Exchange and currency rates.
The British Pound - Sterling - has rallied on the foreign exchanges in the last few weeks, and there are signs that it could go higher against the Euro in the months to come.
Driving down the value of the Euro is the fragile state of the Greek economy, with a high debt ratio to GDP. Other Eurozone countries have rallied around to try and get the Greek debt problem solved, but other memebrs aren’t far behind in being just as vulnerable, Ireland and Cyprus for example.
The Spanish economy is also vulnerable, but if the Euro does fall in value it could mean good news for the Spanish economy overall as a large part of its GDP is from tourism, and Gran Canaria could see the return of British tourists who love the island but have been tempted by cheaper destinations in the last couple of years.
Turkey and Egypt have benefitted at Spain’s expense, as tour operators not only promote good value deals for holidays there, but both are outside the Eurozone where the British Pound still buys a good amount of the local currency.
A British General Election is just weeks away, and opinion polls could send the pound higher or lower, depending upon what they indicate.
The currency markets favour a strong government with a majority in the House of Commons big enough to vote through difficult decisions - if opinion polls show the possibility of a hung parliament where no one party has overall control, it will send sterling down again.
But indications of a comfortable Conservative or Labour victory will help settle the markets over the future of the UK currency.
The election has to be held by early June, with most commentators speculating that Gordon Brown will plump for May 6, when local elections are due too, which would mean more Labour voters turning up to vote, and even if they lost nationally they could hold power in more local authority areas.
And with the election likely to be held in May, if Sterling does increase in value in the weeks after, the timing couldn’t be better for those taking holidays in Gran Canaria who will be able to buy more Euros for their spending money.
It would be good news too for tourists who visit for holidays later in the year - the Gran Canaria weather allows the island to be an all year vacation destination, along with the other Canary Islands, who see holidaymakers escape the Northern Europe chill for a break in the sun.
An increasingly attractive option for those wintering on the island is to have their own home without the cost of buying, through renting with specialist companies who do Gran Canaria villa holidays. Many have their own heated pool for the winter months.
For more photographs of Gran Canaria visit flickr
