Is this for real? You may well ask! Yes, Spain’s government is planning to reward faithful holidaymakers from Britain and Germany by using a system that allows tourists to collect points granting discounts against services and goods in the future.
The project is going to be launched this autumn, according to reports by the Spanish press. The idea for this initiative had already been presented in Germany a few weeks ago, when representatives from Spain’s Ministry for Tourism visited the country.
Plan Nacional e Integral de Turismo, as the overall project to increase tourism is called, aims to encourage repeat business from tourists coming to Spain for the first time. From a marketing point of view, it is far cheaper to persuade a tourist to come back to Spain than to tempt a first-time visitor to come to the country.
Spain is one of the fortunate destination that attracts a lot of repeat visits, as holidaymakers choose different areas of the Costas or interior of the country for their next visit or simply visit the same resort time and again. Germans and UK visitors in particular love to return for a second helping of sun, beach and fun at the Costas. Some 70 per cent of tourists say they’d like to return to Spain for another holiday.
If Spain were a supermarket or multi-national corporation, the government’s Ministry of Tourism argued in their white paper, there would already be a reward system to say thank you to repeat customers. The plan envisages for many different types of businesses to get involved, from hotels to restaurants, airlines, car hire providers, supermarkets, museums and shops.
Saving on things like car rental, entrance fees to attractions and dining out could make all the difference to cash-strapped families from Britain, hoping to escape the rain-soaked summers at home.
So far it has not been made public how the new tourist cards for the collection of points are going to be handed out and how tourists can actually collect points for later redemption. What is clear so far is that from October this year, tourists will be rewarded to come back to Spain for another holiday.