Temperature drop and rain help to tame Spain’s wildfires, Ryanair strike continues to have little impact on flights, Demand for key tourism spots in Spain drops and more news on Thursday August 21st.
Trains between Galicia and Madrid resume
The high-speed train line between Madrid and Galicia, which had been closed for seven days due to the wildfires in northwestern Spain, was re-established at 5pm on Wednesday.
An improvement in the situation with the forest fires in Galicia and Castilla y León has allowed for this, although more than twenty fires remain active.
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Temperature drop and rain help to tame Spain’s wildfires
The end of Spain’s 16-day heatwave and the arrival of rainy weather have brought relief to some of the more than 20 wildfires still active in Spain.
Conditions have improved in Ourense in Galicia and Castilla León in the north, although the situation in Jarrilla (Cáceres) in the east is still worrying, where strong gusts of wind continue despite the improved weather.
Almost 400,000 hectares of land have been burnt by wildfires so far this year in Spain, the highest amount on record, most of which has occurred over the past few weeks.
Ryanair strike in Spain continues to have little impact on flights
The ongoing strike by staff for Azul Handling, the company which supplies baggage handlers for low-cost airline Ryanair, is still not having any major impact in terms of flight delays and cancellations in Spain.
The walkouts are scheduled to take place every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday until the end of this year, which adds up to a total of 76 strike days.
On Wednesday 20th, there were no reports of any disruptions at the ‘affected’ airports.
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Demand for key tourism spots in Spain drops
Demand for travel to five well-known Spanish cities and the island of Tenerife during the high season has fallen by an average of 3.8% year-on-year this summer, according to data from the Lighthouse travel platform .
The data, compiled using various indicators such as occupancy and internet searches, shows drops in demand in July and August in Barcelona (-6 percent), Granada (-4 percent), Ibiza (-2 percent), Malaga (-3 percent) , Palma de Mallorca (-7 percent) and Tenerife (-1 percent).
“The protests against tourism coincide with an average 3.8 percent year-over-year drop in demand across Spain’s six main tourist destinations. The data suggests that travellers are paying attention to the social climate and public conversation at destinations when making travel decisions,” a Lighthouse spokesperson said.
