- Bumper boost as 180,000 visitors set to arrive at Alicante-Elche Airport
By Andrew Atkinson
With the Summer holidays a distant memory scheduled flights at Alicante-Elche Airport are set to give the Costa Blanca a major boost – with the arrival of 180,000 people during October 8-12.
Alicante-Elche Airport has 1,229 flights scheduled during October 8-12 with 180,000 tourists – passenger numbers mirroring 2019, being the best tourist year long-weekend on the Costa Blanca.
The 1,229 flights represent 85% of the flights in the same period in October 2019, of 1,500 flights.
Airport operator AENA forecast October 2021 to be the busiest since the coronovirus pandemic outbreak in March 2020, with the average occupancy of flights increasing to 70%, higher than mid-summer.
The tourists’ numbers boost comes on the back of the Hotels’ sector reporting during Covid-19 €100m losses, with 5,000 workers on ERTE and 65 hotels closing during the pandemic.
In the Valencian Community there are 65 hotels in Benidorm, Calp, Dénia, L’Alfàs del Pi, Gandía, Guardamar, Xàbia, Peñíscola, Alicante, Torrevieja and Vinaroz.
In 2019 the Costa Blanca tourism sector recorded their best year in history.
In the same five-day window in October 2020 a paltry 511 flights arrived at the airport, amid the coronovirus pandemic.
Of the 180,000 passengers arriving at Alicante-Elche during October 8-12, thousands boarded 296 scheduled flights on October 9.
