BRITS going on holiday in Majorca and the Canary Islands this year could be left unable to get rental cars.
A popular transport choice for families looking to get around the idyllic islands, rental cars are set to be unavailable for many unlucky tourists.
The situation is due to increased demand from European and Spanish tourists, all hoping to descend on the island during the Easter holidays.
In some areas, such as Majorca, demand for rental cars has seen pre-booked reservations reach 100 per cent – and the situation could remain throughout the year.
On top of this, there's thought to be 50,000 fewer rental cars on the Balearic Islands compared to before the coronavirus pandemic.
Any remaining available rental cars are expected to see a dramatic price increase, with the previous average of between 15 and 60 euros per day rocketing 300 per cent to around 130 euros per day.
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The shortages are being reflected in the Canary Islands where there are similar warnings to tourists arriving this week, despite a doubling of the fleet to around 50,000.
Hire companies say 65,000 cars would be needed to fill demand.
Rental car companies are putting up the "no cars available" signs for the whole of Easter and prices have also gone up and tourists are being urged to book up way in advance.
This Easter, car rental prices are 20 per cent above the same period in 2019 – before the Covid crisis, the price per week was between 125-135 euros and now it is at least 220 euros.
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President of the Balearic Vehicle Rental Association, Ramón Reus, said: "We feared that the Ukraine war would retract demand for the island ahead of Easter.
"The reality is that for the next five days we are fully booked and in many areas we have everything rented."
He went on to predict that demand will only increase over the upcoming days due to last-minute reservations.
The problems are predicted to continue throughout the summer season and are likely to become more intense in the months from July to September, when demand will be greater than the number of available rental cars on the island of Majorca.
President of the Balearic Association for Vehicle Rental without a Driver, Antoni Masferrer said: "There is an increase in the arrival of foreign tourism, specifically German, British, Italian and Nordic, to which Spanish must be added.
"All this increases our activity, but it is true that in some areas we cannot cope because there are no cars, a situation that we have been suffering from since the start of the pandemic."
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