Alex Trelinski
HOTELS in the Benidorm and Costa Blanca area say that internal Spanish travel restrictions have forced them to give up on their normally lucrative Easter holiday period.
They also don’t see UK tourists arriving back to the region much before mid-June amidst warnings from British government ministers that people should not rush to book a foreign summer holiday.
The Benidorm-based hotel association Hosbec and its president, Toni Mayor, said: “The new blow from the UK over possible fines for people trying to leave the country to go on holiday will hurt our sector. We have to be realistic that we don’t expect any British arrivals until mid-June.”
Of the Easter period, Mayor commented; “Not even God will be coming here. Semana Santa(Holy Week) is dead.”
He hoped that a review of internal Spanish travel rules in April will produce a loosening of restrictions including the reopening of the Valencia region border.
The Alicante Province Hotels Association said that the news coming out of the UK was not good.
It’s president, Victoria Puche, said: “”We had already come to terms with the fact that Easter would not start our recovery but we were hopeful that May or June would see a respite with the return of international visitors.”
“It’s very bad news from the UK as we already had some reservations and we will wait for what the UK government says next month. We may have to wait as long as July for things to pick up,” she added.
