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ARCHIVED - UK travel searches to the Costa Blanca soar following relaxation of restrictions
Holiday searches for Benidorm and the rest of the Valencia region are up 81.9% on January 2021
Online searches for holidays on the Costa Blanca have skyrocketed this month following a relaxation of travel restrictions by the UK government.
A study carried out by Benidorm-based Invattur, which analyses the trends of the most important destinations in the Valencia region, shows that the number of searches for travel between January 10 and 30 rose by 81.9% compared to the same period in 2021.
This time last year, the measures were tougher for both the national and international markets, and the Valencian region was subject to a border closure from the rest of the country.
But the lifting of movement restrictions and changes to quarantine and testing measures in Britain have led to a renewed confidence in travel and a surge in flight and hotel searches.
Above all, Invattur attributes the rise to changes in UK restrictions, and around 15,000 Britons are expected to arrive on the Costa Blanca in the first quarter of 2022, attracted further by the fact flights are currently 9% cheaper than in 2019, costing between 39 and 45 euros to and from Spain and Britain.
On January 5, the British government approved the scrapping of the obligatory PCR test for fully jabbed holidaymakers, a decision that has been delayed for months despite repeated requests from the tourism sector which feared the additional cost and inconvenience of carrying out tests would deter travellers.
And it appears this was the case, with tour operators also noting a considerable increase in British interest in the Costa Blanca over the last few weeks.
Leading the way is Benidorm, according to Google Trends data, in part due to the airing of a Channel 5 documentary. The first episode was broadcast on January 9 following the lives of British tourists at the resort's Riudor and Rio Park hotels.
The report also analyses the trends for Alicante city, where national tourist searches related to the week of Epiphany (January 6) and British searches included "low cost" getaways "with transfer security and full board".
In addition, Invattur studied the search trends for Altea, which has positioned itself as one of the "safe tourist destinations on the Costa Blanca".
Here the Dutch and Belgian markets stand out, although the coastal town with a more "gastronomic profile" attracts many British due to its close proximity to Benidorm just 10km away.
Image: Archive
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