Arrivals in alicante set to top 10m
Photo: Ponte1112
According to ANEA (Spanish Airports and Air Navigation public body) the Costa Blanca's main airport, Alicante-Elche, is celebrating a record year and is steadily reaching its target of 10 million users for 2014.
Figures recorded in May revealed huge traffic, some 974,449 passengers passing through the airport, 4.8 per cent more than in the same month in 2013 which, alongside the recovery of the national tourism market growing by 2 per cent (almost 94,000 travellers), shows increasingly positive signs for the region.
The airport handled 6,875 flights during May, 3.6 per cent more than the same month last year and once again, the UK was the European country which had the most flights to Alicante (6,875), reaffirming the British love affair with the Costa Blanca.
Indeed, of the total 974,449 travellers last month, 880,139 were foreigners (a 5 per cent increase on last year) and of these a whopping 452,261 were British, not forgetting 73,109 Germans, 57,449 Norwegians, 58,001 Dutch and 45,329 Belgians, all hot-footing it to Alicante for the summer season.
Marc Pritchard, Sales and Marketing Director for leading Spanish home builder, Taylor Wimpey España, comments: "It's no surprise that in today's competitive holiday market, people from all over Europe are looking for the best available deals to get the most for their money, and places like the UK's favourite - Alicante - offer just that. Many holiday-makers prefer to stick to what they know and the cheaper cost of travel and indeed living in Spain makes the country perennially attractive to bargain hunters."
That attraction spreads to the property market too: Alicante has shown a strong recovery from turbulent economic times over the first quarter of this year, according to the Spanish Development Ministry. The Ministry's latest data shows that sales of homes in the province rose 24.3 per cent in the first quarter, registering more than 6,600 sales.
Moreover, for the first time in several years the domestic demand has begun to gather pace, increasing by 23.7 per cent, compared to declines seen in recent years. Foreign buyers account for 55 per cent of the purchases of properties in the much loved, sunny Alicante.
Alicante is set to enjoy a further boost from the rest of 2014. Making travelling to Spain even easier from the UK this year, the low cost airline Flybe, announced it will be adding two new destinations to its list, launching new flights from Southampton Airport to Alicante and Malaga this summer.
Pritchard continues: "This is excellent news for Spain. These routes are to very popular holiday destinations and have the potential to significantly increase traffic to the country. We are even more excited by the increase in passenger numbers this year as we have just completed a joint venture in the Costa Blanca with Grupo Inmobiliario Gomendio of an amazing front line residential development, La Recoleta III, with direct beach access in Punta Prima, Torrevieja just an hour away from Alicante airport. All south facing apartments have superb views over the swimming pool, private gardens and sea with Playa Piteras beach, only 400 feet away. This kind of location has not been seen in the second homes market for a good few years and we are confident it will be a hit from just 142.000€."