Crude futures settle higher

Oil prices advanced on Wednesday.

The West Texas Intermediate for March delivery increased by 67 cents, or 1.05 percent, to settle at 64.63 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude for April delivery added 60 cents, or 0.87 percent, to settle at 69.40 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

Spain is seeing a surge in European tourists as conflict in the Middle East prompts travelers to opt for closer and safer destinations.

With Easter holiday underway, Palma de Mallorca airport has been packed with visitors who abandoned plans for trips eastward. Hostilities triggered by Israeli‑U.S. strikes on Iran have forced major airports across the Middle East to cancel or delay flights, severely disrupting aviation and tourism in the region.

"We were thinking about going to Dubai, but because of the war, there was no option, so we came here to Mallorca," said a traveler named Michelle, who works as a kindergarten teacher.

"We thought about going to Thailand, but I see the flights were disrupted and they said there were drones and things like that, so we thought Spain may be a safer option," another traveler Ross McGrego said.

"The situation in the Middle East is a little bit too unstable for my holiday plans," said traveler Rose Danaher, a rabies specialist nurse with the UK Health Services Agency.

The influx has brought new opportunities for local businesses. Local restaurant owner in Mallorca Victoria Amoros opened her second restaurant just days ago.

"50,000 people extra are flying to Mallorca. These people were supposed to fly to the Middle East and they are rerouted to Mallorca. I don't know how we are going to handle that, but we will receive them with love," said Amoros, owner of La Malvasia Restaurant Chain.

Chris Pomeroy, the global head of tourism of international communications group Hopscotch said people all over the world are choosing to holiday closer to home.

"So, 14 percent 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. We say in tourism that when in times of conflict, investors turn to gold, and in times of conflict, tour operators turn to Spain," he said.

Spain welcomed a record 97 million foreign tourists in 2025, and industry experts say the figure could surpass 100 million this year. With Middle East routes disrupted, Spain's role as Europe's fallback destination is set to grow even further.