The Spanish airline Clickair has recently revealed plans to expand into the Scottish market. The company was founded in 2006 and its founder Alex Cruz has suggested that tourism between Scotland and Spain is set for a boom period. The commencement of flights between the two countries is merely a catalyst for what is seen to be an ongoing process of Spaniards finding Scotland more popular and vice versa.
Mr. Cruz said that Spaniards, or in particular Catalans, are getting bored with visiting sun-baked Mediterranean destinations and are particularly attracted by Scotland’s great golf culture. The effect of Scotland’s image was increased this summer when the Catalan giants Barcelona football team came on a three-match pre-season tour of Scotland. The matches were screened live back to Spain and the pre-match and post-match images included scenes of Scotland’s spectacular countryside. The whole tour was accompanied by the Spanish media purely for this reason.
The Scottish have reacted to this market opportunity in a similar way. The Scottish tourist board, VisitScotland, has so far ploughed L500.000 into promoting Scotland in Spain. This investment has been made with a view to confirming Spain as one of the key markets for the coming years.
Clickair has announced that there shall be four flights per week during the winter and one daily direct flight in the summer. The flights are going to run between Edinburgh and Barcelona and are to start on a permanent basis in the very near future. If all goes to plan and more tourists start making the trip between Catalonia and Spain, Mr. Cruz has revealed that more flights are possible to introduce. Much depends on the upcoming trial period and the effectiveness of the investments which have so far been made.