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ARCHIVED - Costa Blanca launches bid to recover pre-Covid UK tourists at World Travel Market London
British visitors to Alicante province come mainly from London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and Nottingham
Costa Blanca tourism representatives, along with the President of Alicante Provincial Council, are currently in London attending the World Travel Market in an ambitious bid to recover 90% of pre-Covid British tourists.
The three-day event, which ends on Wednesday November 9, brings together top industry experts from around the world from different sectors in travel.
And head of Alicante Provincial Council, Carlos Mazón, made the most of the opportunity to meet with with the Spanish Ambassador to the UK, José Pascual Martínez, on Monday to discuss the potential for growth of the British market in the province, as well as "the need to ensure that tourists and residents can travel as often as they wish to our municipalities and extend their stay as long as possible".
"The Costa Blanca is in London in the reconquest mode. We are diversifying our offer so as not to depend exclusively on the sun and beach, because we want to recover the pre-pandemic figures of travellers from the United Kingdom," said Mazón, adding that the aim is to "reach at least 90% of the tourists we had before Covid".
The working meeting was also attended by the director of the Costa Blanca Tourist Board, José Mancebo, and Benidorm Mayor, Toni Pérez, at the Turespaña stand at the world fair.
Mazón and Pascual discussed issues of interest to tourists and British residents in the province, such as increased air connectivity planned for the winter season and the support offered by Provincial Council's International Residents' departments to help inform and assist Brits in bureaucratic procedures.
"We have come to London with great confidence and ambition, we have the gold medal as the most visited peninsular destination by the British," said the president, highlighting Benidorm, "the most visited Spanish resort by UK travellers".
Alicante province is home to more British expats than any other province is Spain, with more than 74,000 citizens registered, and Mazón was quick to point out that there has been a "significant" increase in the number of flights from the UK to Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport.
For the 2022-2023 winter season, more than one million seats have been scheduled on 6,000 planes that will operate 55 routes between different British terminals and Alicante. These figures position the province as the peninsular destination with the most flights from the UK.
British tourists arriving in Alicante come mainly from London, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and Nottingham. In the first half of 2022 the Costa Blanca received nearly 900,000 British tourists, half of whom holidayed in Benidorm.
Image: Carlos Mazon Guixot Facebook
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