Alicante, donde el summer never ends ("Where summer never ends") is the motto that Alicante has brought to the World Travel Market. According to Mayor Luis Barcala, it is the most ambitious campaign that the city has presented at this tourism fair, but it extends not only to London, but also to Manchester, Bristol and Edinburgh, destinations that have numerous connections to Alicante airport. -Elx.
23% in summer, 27.6% in autumn is the share of British travelers that Alicante has received in the most recent dates. With this good precedent, the advertising campaign is activated in buses, taxis and MUPI in the streets of the aforementioned towns and also seeks three hundred million selective impacts on social networks. Advertising is also present in the British Airways magazine.
"Today in Alicante we are physically transforming the city to make it friendlier, more welcoming, where everyone can enjoy the type of tourism they want to do. Our large roads are being transformed with an idea: passage areas that become areas of walk in a city that lives facing the sea, facing its port and its beaches," said Barcala. The mayor points out that the Santa Bárbara Castle is "one of the 10 best-rated monuments in the world, according to Trip Advisor", and the goal is for the city, with a great tradition of residential tourism, to increase its share as a destination " getaway, weekend tourism".
During the morning, the Visit Valencia representation also conveyed its offer to British operators and media. The United Kingdom is today a secondary market for both the city and beach destinations, so its growth possibilities are very significant. Currently, Valencia airport is connected to Manchester, the East Midlands and London, as well as Dublin in Ireland. But its proximity to Alicante airport multiplies its connectivity, especially for beach destinations such as Gandia and Cullera.
One of the programs that has been presented to the British media is 'Fem poble', a project that has been underway for two years and tries to provide the most depopulated areas with products that prevent inhabitants from abandoning their towns. Currently, 56 municipalities from four regions participate and there are 90 companies participating in the program. Cycle tourism is one of those products, with routes that give value to the natural landscape of the province of Valencia. Also interesting for the British market is the activity of birdwatching, which in natural spaces such as La Albufera offers great attraction for a type of traveler who also values native gastronomy and has other cultural interests.
Heading the representation of his city, Pablo Ruz, mayor of Elx, explains to La Vanguardia that Visit Elche is attending the WTM for the first time with its own brand. He assures Ruz that "the French market is the most important for us linked to a university center (CEU) that has a brutal offer, but we want to promote British business." Elx has nine kilometers of beach, "and it is true that we do not have coastal hotels, but we have an offer of quality tourist apartments, because ours is a quality offer, ours is cultural and experiential tourism."
The objective of the Elche delegation is, therefore, "to add to the wealth of cultural heritage and Unesco assets that we have to the offer of sun and beach that the Valencian Community has. It is very interesting, as the councilor has said, to advance in deseasonalization With our cultural heritage tourism, landscapes, historic orchards, combined with our beaches, we can bid in that market," he noted.
