News Summary Blog 2

http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/1792907/0/crisis-turismo/paquetes/vacacionales/

1.  The recent economic crisis may now be effecting tourism in Spain. Tourists are no longer booking "holiday packages" because they are too expensive and it is cheaper for them to book their vacation on their own. The the crisis is also causing flights to be more expensive so more and more people are opting to drive to their destinations once they get to spain, instead of fly there. The article then suggests that Spanish tourism markets take a look at what is going on in the Asian market and try to take tips from them. They can do this by creating new packages specifically for their guests in an attempt to adapt to the change in consumer spending. It also suggests that companies use new technologies like the internet to make prices more competitive. 

2.  This article relates to class because we have been taking about how tourism can effect an economy. So far we have taked a lot about how tourism can benefit an economy, but not so much about how it could hurt an economy. I think this is an interesting example because tourism isn't becoming nonexistent and is still being beneficial to the country, but not to everyone. This change in tourism is mainly hurting travel companies and airlines for now. The article doesn't state that this change is hurting any businesses, so it seems like tourist are still spending money and benefiting the economy in some way. I think if these travel companies are able to properly and quickly adapt to the change in tourist spending that they will not be effected as severely as they are right now.

3.  The increase in flight costs is what led to tourist no longer booking holiday packages. Since flights are included in these packages, when those prices increased, the entire package price increased. The article doesn't give any specific detail as to how the economic crisis effected flight costs, but does mention that as the main reason. The article does specify that the tourist economy is not in crisis, just experiencing price changes due to the change in tourist spending. My resolution to this problem of tourists not buying holiday packages would be for travel companies selling these packages to make changes to the package in some way. They could take away something from the package that would reduce the price without increasing the price due to expensive flights.