Sun and beach tourism is evolving towards a more sustainable and diversified model. This is a transformation process that involves a commitment to the internationalisation of the hotel offer, a commitment to sustainable tourism projects and the diversification of experiences to attract new segments and make stays more profitable, as shown by the most recent analysis by Mabrian, the global tourism intelligence platform.
Mabrian presented these data during the recent assembly of the Alliance of Sun and Beach Tourist Municipalities (AMT Sol y Playa) held in Lloret de Mar, where its mayor, Adrià Lamelas, assumed the presidency for 2025. The Alliance of Sun and Beach Tourist Municipalities (AMT Sol y Playa) is a Spanish entity that brings together eight pioneering municipalities in this segment, comprising Adeje, Arona and San Bartolomé de Tirajana (Canary Islands), Benidorm (Valencia), Calviá (Balearic Islands), Lloret de Mar and Salou (Catalonia) and Torremolinos (Andalusia).
“The enjoyment of the climate is, and will continue to be, a key driver for Spanish and global tourism, as it evolves towards a sustainable growth model that, as in the case of AMT destinations, is committed to transforming its value proposition. To achieve this, they are committed to innovative management based on data intelligence,” says Carlos Cendra, partner and director of Marketing and Communication at Mabrian. According to data from The Business Research Company published in September 2024, sun and beach tourism will grow by 6.7% over the next four years (compound annual growth rate).
Adrià Lamelas, Mayor of Lloret de Mar and new President of the AMT, highlighted the Alliance’s commitment to innovation and sustainability: “Our mission is to ensure that sun and beach tourism evolves towards a model that benefits both local communities and visitors. We are committed to offering unique and diversified experiences that allow us to compete successfully in an increasingly demanding global market, while moving towards a more responsible and balanced tourism”. Likewise, the president highlighted the importance of committing to a tourism model that guarantees the wellbeing of tourists and residents, a challenge that “is key to the future of tourism not only for the destinations in the alliance but for global tourism as a whole”.
Good weather, a strategic asset.
The weather conditions of the Spanish sun and beach destinations, and in particular those that are part of the AMT, are a consolidated demand driver and remain constant among European demand, as the Mabrian data show. The average of the Climate Perception Index of the eight AMT destinations over the last 12 months (89 out of a possible 100 points) is 6 points above the index for the whole of Spain (83), and remains stable, despite the impact of the effects of last October’s DANA on the climate perception of both Spain and some of the destinations in the alliance.
Precisely, this stability of climate perception throughout the year can contribute to deseasonalisation, attracting alternative segments with greater flexibility in choosing their travel dates. These include couples and solo travellers, who currently represent 39% and 10% of demand respectively. “The destinations of the alliance are already on the path of deseasonalisation in which Spain in general is advancing, with initiatives aimed at distributing demand throughout the year”, said Cendra.
In the effort to treat the climate as a strategic asset, Mabrian recalls that analysing the Climate Perception Index by issuing markets can help to identify the different sensitivities of the markets towards this factor. It also allows for a more efficient segmentation of promotional campaigns based on the level of satisfaction with the weather conditions at the destination. “We know that French, British and American travellers are the most sensitive to extreme weather conditions in Spanish destinations, which means opportunities to attract travellers from these countries in seasons with milder temperatures”, says the Mabrian expert.
The AMT destinations also have an added advantage for extending the high seasons: robust air connectivity, which represents 38% of the total number of direct international flights to Spain in the last 12 months. As Mabrian’s analysis points out, “the fact of having a high volume of demand and the confidence of the airlines, favours the possibility of extending flights beyond the high season. It is much easier to extend a route than to create it from scratch: this factor is key to being able to welcome alternative segments of international visitors”, says Cendra.
82.5% of the air seats available in the last 12 months in the eight destinations of the Alianza de Municipios Turísticos de Sol y Playa are operated by low-cost airlines or charters, which have increased by 11.6% compared to the same period of the previous year. In parallel, with respect to the rest of Spain, low-cost airlines and charters account for 67.6% of the total number of air seats. The percentage of seats handled by traditional airlines to Spanish destinations (32.4%) is almost double that of AMT municipalities (17.5%), which grew +8.6% over the previous year, 1.2 percentage points less than Spain.
Keys to repositioning: renewed experiences and global hotel brands.
28% of the hotels located in the eight destinations of the Alianza de Municipios Turísticos de Sol y Playa are managed by hotel chains; 15% of them by international hotel chains, almost twice as many as in the rest of Spain.
“The higher the percentage of international hotel brands, the more possibilities there are of attracting alternative segments, in mid and low season, taking advantage of international marketing and promotion channels, which is key to tackling one of the main challenges facing some of the AMT destinations: improving their dependency rates on their markets of origin”, emphasises Carlos Cendra. In this regard, it is worth highlighting the potential of the 5-star and luxury segment: according to a recent McKinsey & Company report, 63% of high-impact travellers choose to travel to sun and beach destinations, but only 20% of the global hotel supply in these destinations corresponds to this high-end segment.
Reducing dependence on outbound markets also implies an effort to reduce motivational dependence, a path along which the eight sun and beach destinations analysed are progressing at different rates, and which should take advantage of global and European trends in tourism demand, which is more experience-oriented, with a growing role for blue tourism, which according to estimates by the Blue Tourism Initiative, already represents 50% of world tourism.
As Mabrian indicates in his analysis of sun and beach tourism, after the pandemic, trips with a motivation related to discovering and enjoying experiences at the destination (active tourism, gastronomy, nature and wellness) have increased by 8% in the world and in Europe. This circumstance means new opportunities to diversify the drivers of demand, combining the traditional sun and beach experience with other complementary segments, such as active tourism, gastronomy or culture, helping to increase spending at the destination and lengthen stays. In fact, as the Mabrian expert explains, “the average stays of European travellers who choose one of the eight destinations of the alliance are very stable, both in high and mid season, which indicates that the price factor may show opportunities for readjustment to make stays more profitable in mid and low season”.
Finally, Mabrian has identified Hurghada (Egypt), Agadir (Morocco), Crete (Greece), Zagreb (Croatia) and Bari (Italy) as the top five competitors for the alliance’s eight destinations in the first half of 2025, based on a cross-analysis between the main airlines connecting the largest European outbound markets to these destinations and the increase in scheduled air capacity to alternative destinations, including other coastal locations in Italy, Greece, Malta and Croatia.
