Like them or not, stag and hen parties have become very much part of the European scene, with the British often taking advantage of good weather, cheap alcohol or both.
Parts of Spain have been quite determined to minimise the number of these bawdy nights out and for a short period of time, Prague in the Czech Republic became the stag and hen European capital.
Prague is cracking down on stag and hen events
In 2019, Prague was the most popular destination although Benidorm sat ‘comfortably’ in third place but that is all in the melting pot after Prague announced that it would ban Pub Crawls between 10pm and 6am and crack down on what it considered to be anti-social behaviour.
According to UK stag and hen do experts, StagWeb.co.uk and GoHen.com , this could result in many partiers looking to Spain for their big pre-wedding celebrations.
“Post-pandemic, we saw a big drop-off in people heading to Eastern Europe in favour of Spanish destinations and that will almost certainly increase in 2025 following Prague’s decision to ban organized pub crawls,” said Jon Stainer, Creative Director of Groupia.
He added “Initially, the war in Ukraine was causing a lot of uncertainty in the region and saw people looking elsewhere but we were expecting travel to return to the region in 2025.
Benidorm has already overtaken and 2025 is expected to be even busier
“However, introducing a pub crawl ban is a statement for stags and hens to think twice about heading to Prague and we expect even more to turn to Spain next year.
“Whether it’s Benidorm, Barcelona, Tenerife or elsewhere, Spain is perfectly positioned to economically benefit from this.”
In 2024, Benidorm had already returned to the companies number one destination and Barcelona had jumped from ninth to fifth.
Figures show that already Spanish figures show significant growth with Benidorm seeing a 63 per cent increase in popularity in the past six years, Barcelona a 17 per cent jump and even 12 per cent in Marbella.
So if you live in a popular part of Spain, be aware that 2025 could be just that bit busier.
