Bank holiday joy for hotels
AFTER a disappointing summer when the pandemic put paid to tourism along the coast, Marina Alta hotels were nearly full over the October bank holiday weekend.
This year, foreign visitors to Spain were down by around 75%, and it was only residents on staycation who saved the season for the holiday industry – although rural tourism accounted for just over 51% of the total, outstripping beach breaks for the first time in history.
Anticipating a poor turnout, many hotels had temporarily laid off, or ‘ furloughed’ part of their workforce, leaving them shortstaffed when they got lastminute bookings.
Bright sunshine over the long weekend meant residents from all over the country
flocked to the Costa for a minibreak.
Whilst some hotels had already shut by the end of September, those still trading were
mostly fullybooked especially in Dénia, Calpe and Jávea.
The majority were hoping for a lastminute surge with workers having four full days off and, according to several tourism industry representatives, they were not disappointed.