The Easter rush began early at Palma de Mallorca airport. By Wednesday it was already jammed – including with many people who hadn't planned to be there. 

"We were thinking about going to Dubai but because of the war there was no option so we came here to Mallorca," German kindergarten teacher Michelle tells CGTN at a busy arrivals gate.

"We thought about going to Thailand, but the flights through Doha were disrupted and with drones and all that we thought Spain was the safer option," says Ross McGregor, a Scottish farm worker.

"It's a little bit unstable for my holiday plans," Rose Danaher, a health worker from the UK, asserts when asked if she was thinking about the Middle East for her Easter break.

And booking in Mallorca was a challenge in itself: "Looking at available places to stay about a month ago and looking again about two weeks ago and there is a significant difference in the reduction of availability of villas."

'I don't know how we're going to handle it' 

The Iran war has caused a jump-shock to global tourism and Europeans who were looking East are now staying put.

Tourists seeking sun, sea, and safety are snapping up the final rooms available as Mallorca and the Balearic islands have seen a 40% rise in Easter bookings, despite higher flight prices.

One German airline alone has put on 100 extra flights that will bring some 36,000 more tourists to the island.

Mallorcan local Victoria Amoros opened her second restaurant, La Malvasia, just a few days ago in the center of Palma – and its terrace was packed with people eating, drinking, and enjoying the sun.

"50,000 extra are flying to Mallorca," she tells CGTN. "These people were supposed to fly to the Middle East and they are rerouted to Mallorca. I don't know how we're going to handle that, but we'll receive them with love."

She says that with most coastal properties booked up, people are looking inland, reserving villas, and renting cars to get around.

Just around the corner from her restaurant there's a 12-car queue trying to get into a local car park.

The tourism industry is losing $600m a day 

Chris Pomeroy – founder of Hopscotch, a travel company focused on sustainability – says that all around the world, people are choosing to stay closer to home since the conflict in Iran. 

"It's demonstrated the fragility, if you like, of global connectivity," he begins. "In numbers we're losing around about $600 million a day worth of tourism income, not just in the region, but globally – 14% of international travel goes through the Middle East.

"It's a connectivity issue, so when these bridges are down, the logical effect is that people will stay in their hemisphere."

Spain is one of the few winners, in terms of tourism at least: The country could break the 100 million visitor barrier for the first time ever this year.

"We say in tourism that when in times of conflict, investors turn to gold and tour operators turn to Spain," says Pomeroy.

While that's good news for the economy and employment, not everybody wins.

Just ask the people who live here in the Son Hugo caravan park, one of many on the island. The majority are hospitality workers and watch rent and housing prices rise further out of reach with every new surge at the arrivals gate.

It's just another example of the unforeseen circumstances of the conflict in the Middle East.