The city of Alicante, through its Alicante Convention Bureau, dependent on the Alicante City&Beach Tourist Board, has already confirmed some twenty congresses and events for next year, with a forecast of nearly 8,000 attendees.
The deputy mayor and head of the Tourist Board, Mari Carmen Sánchez, recalled that “congresses have been one of the segments most affected by the pandemic”, which “forced meetings to be held online or hybrid”.
Sánchez explained that MICE tourism (conferences, meetings, events and incentive trips) “has a great economic impact” and, although it is a very competitive market, “in Alicante we are very well positioned to host congresses and events, while incentive trips are making a comeback”.
Among the appointments already closed for 2023, the medical and scientific congresses stand out, which dominate the list. Among them is the National Meeting of the Association of Surgeons with 1,200 expected attendees.
Also, the Congress of the Spanish Society of Cervical Pathology and Colposcopy, with 800 people expected. Both appointments will take place in the second semester of the year. In addition, there will be several meetings of 500 or more attendees, such as the International Congress of the Region Science in Europe Association.
In fact, close to half of the meetings to be held in the city are international, such as the International Conference on Web Engineering.
The busiest single event, with some 2,500 expected attendees, is the V World Blood Bowl Championship, a “fantasy football” game, which will attract players and their families from the rest of Spain, European countries and the United States to Alicante.
Sources from this body have assured that “we have good expectations for the coming years because movement is already noticeable.” In fact, they have already confirmed the holding of the National Congress of Property Administrators for May 2024.
