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ARCHIVED - Costa Blanca promotes new image to attract tourists with pets
The region's Tourist Board has launched its 'Costa Blanca: Pet Friendly' campaign
More than five million dogs are registered in Spain, and in the Valencia region many homes have more than one. With this in mind, Costa Blanca Tourist Board is keen to capitalise on a "niche market" which has grown since the start of the pandemic: vacations with furry friends.
In recent years, more and more tourist accomodations are welcoming pets and dog friendly beaches are popping up everywhere.
Now, the Costa Blanca Toursit Board wants to pull details of all these animal friendly resources, infrastructures, venues and accomodation together and market them under the region's very own 'Pet Friendly' destinations banner.
The autonomous organisation within Alicante Provincial Council has already sent out a questionnaire to municipalities and associations in the province interested in offering these specific proposals to tourists, and more than 20 have expressed a desire to join the initiative.
Towns, villages and establishments which sign up will have their own 'Costa Blanca Pet Friendly' seal which can be displayed at exclusive areas for pets, such as adapted parks, routes and natural spaces with access, canine beaches and accommodation that allow pets, as well as other specific services.
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According to Dog Vivant, a company that provides tools and resources to help businesses and destinations that want to promote dog-friendly tourism, the five million dogs registered in Spain are spread across 4.5 million homes.
But, by ratio, this figure is higher in the Valencia region where there are more homes with more than one dog than the national average, reveals data from Hostertur.
On the Costa Blanca, dogs have become "another member of the family", and Alicante canine owners reportedly spend an average of 54 euros a month on their care whilst also choosing to travel with their four-legged friends as opposed to leaving them at home or in kennels.
Explaining the theory behind the new image branding, President of Alicante Provincial Council and the tourism board, Carlos Mazón, explained that the "specialised offer is gaining more and more strength every day and it is a segment on which we want to focus attention to encourage this market by means of a seal that allows visitors and agencies to locate services designed for their pets".
He added that many town councils have expressed an interest in promoting this "new tourist product without forgetting the needs and requirement of pet owners themselves at destinations both in inland and on the coast".
The project is included in 'Our Costa Blanca Plan 2022' which was unanimously approved a week ago and is based on three fundamental axes on which projects developed by the Provincial Council, together with the tourism sector and Town Halls will focus: presence, digitisation and sustainability.
Now read: 20 things pet owners are now prohibited from doing under the new Animal Protection Law in Spain
Image: Turismo Costa Blanca
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