• Reactions. "Some friends were going to come but they stay"

The impact of the re-imposition of the quarantine on the British returning from Spain in Benidorm - an example of tourism in the United Kingdom - was beyond doubt as soon as the announcement occurred last Saturday night.

Five days later, the forecasts of the economic catastrophe that the hoteliers envisioned have taken shape in the form of figures confirming that this new scenario will be very hard for the city.

To begin with, the isolation forced to return will destroy the 300,000 hotel reservations planned in Benidorm for the month of August, a period in which the largest employer in the sector of the Valencian Community, Hosbec , predicted a certain recovery.

Between this month and September, according to the hoteliers, the reservations, they insist, "were going at a good pace" and had 600,000 visitors . However, Boris Johnson's unexpected announcement has shattered expectations, putting the sector in a previously unknown situation. In Hosbec they calculate losses of 150 million euros for Benidorm hotels and about 200 million for establishments on the Costa Blanca.

The association's data recalls that only last year British tourists, the first foreign market, made 5.5 million hotel overnight stays in the province of Alicante and registered an expenditure of 2,000 million euros. In Benidorm 4.9 million and an outlay of 1,800 million were recorded.

In addition, the quarantine will also cause the loss of half a million seats on flights from Alicante airport , the third largest Spanish terminal for the British market, through which six million passengers from the United Kingdom passed last year.

This economic disaster, unthinkable in a city in which the British visitor does not understand times of the year, is also extendable to tourist apartments. The data that the Association of Tourist Apartments of the Costa Blanca ( Aptur ) manages is drastic since they translate into a "flood of cancellations" since last Saturday, not only in August but also in September and even in October.

So far, Aptur has recorded the cancellation of 250 reservations, with which, it estimates, the occupation of August has fallen by 30% when it was close to 50%. The sector has its hopes set for the United Kingdom to back down and save, as far as possible, a season that was already lost on March 14 with the announcement of the state of alarm.

The decision of the British Government to remove Spain from the list of safe countries came just as hotel businessmen began to see, with the figures in hand, certain signs of recovery of what is its main public: 600,000 visitors in this second fortnight July and September 30, which translated into 90% of the occupation.

It was a "hopeful" scenario after a complicated start, since until July 6 the British who returned home from Benidorm were forced to isolate themselves, which is why the city was pulling national tourism awaiting the arrival of the foreigners.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • UK
  • Spain
  • Valencian Community
  • Boris Johnson
  • Alicante
  • tourism

Tourism Perfect storm in summer: United Kingdom is the country that spends the most and Catalonia the community that receives the most

TourismThe slow revival of Benidorm: Hotels reopen seeking the 'domino effect'

TurismoBenidorm after the British quarantine announcement: "Some friends were going to come but they stay"

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