The Gibraltar Tourist Board is planning to relaunch its agent training programme, adding site visits for operators and running a number of agent roadshows in 2023.
Speaking to Travel Bulletin at WTM, Minister for Business, Tourism and The Port Vijay Darayanani said that Gibraltar’s visitor numbers had really bounced back with 2022 numbers up on the pre-Covid figures of 2019.
“The hotels have been very busy and the flights have been packed. The average stays have been between three and five days, which is positive. Being one of the first countries on the green list last year and the fact that visitors can pay in sterling has also been helpful too as this has made people feel safe about visiting Gibraltar.
“Also Gibraltar provides a very different experience to many other destinations, we have a very unique offering and we are able to diversify our product so that people visit more than just the Rock, and there are enough experiences so that visitors can be busy every day during a week-long stay.”
The number of cruise passengers is 15% down on 2019, said Darayanani, “but we are hopeful that figures will be back to 2019 levels next year as more cruiselines introduce us back into their voyages.”
The tourist board is also setting its sights on the weddings market, said tourist board CEO Kevin Bossino. “The weddings market could be strong for Gibraltar because we have sterling, couples looking to get married know that their wedding bills won’t be affected by any fluctuations in currencies.”
Sterling could also make Gibraltar a more attractive destination to the UK market looking at holiday destinations next year in the face of a recession, added Darayanani.
