.Hosbec believes that Benidorm will lose 500,000 overnight stays in its main market this year

The reduction of air links between Alicante and the United Kingdom is a concern in the sector

The hoteliers of Benidorm already assume that British tourism has reached a ceiling after reaching historical highs, and that what corresponds to do now is to manage the decline of this key market for the local industry.

This decrease, to follow the trend registered so far (September closing), will mean the loss of 500,000 overnight stays in 2018 compared to the previous year. This, compared to last year, implies a 10% setback in the number of hotel nights contracted by British, the main customers of the Costa Blanca accommodation plant. The businessmen of Benidorm have reached this conclusion after analyzing the data for September, the month with the most overnight stays in the hotel, which however has not been used this time to compensate for the discrete numbers harvested in July and August, also marked by the trickle down of British tourism.

In the employers’ company, they are clear about it: «If this bleeding continues in the British market, it is expected that a loss of half a million overnight stays will be achieved,» the entity acknowledged yesterday in a statement. And it is that the hotels of Benidorm have finished September with an occupation of 91.5%, 2.1 points less than in the same month of last year. If September was expected to help alleviate the low occupancy of the central months of the summer, the reality has knocked down those expectations.

It is not the end of the world, but the sector, although not worried because it almost took for granted this bearish behavior of tourism from the United Kingdom, is on alert. The employers do not hide that «the British market continues to lose steam this September. Since the beginning of the year – they add – there is a continuous decline of British overnight stays, reaching last month a total of 41,400 fewer overnight stays compared to the previous year, which means a total until September a loss of 420,000 overnight stays ».

The data

Only in September, British tourism lost 3.7 points of occupancy in Benidorm (this decline in the British market during the month of September has been practically covered by the national clientele, which increases almost in the same proportion -3.3 points- and 42.1% of the entire Benidorm offer).

In 2017, the British broke records in number of overnight stays in Benidorm since there are records, with 5.43 million hotel nights (3% more than in 2016). The best data had been obtained in 2007 with 5.3 million overnight stays and the worst in 2010 with 3.8 million. If the forecasts are met, Benidorm would end 2018 with 4.93 million overnight stays by Britons.

The main causes of this decline, according to Hosbec, are the choice of new tourist destinations, the decrease in the air capacity of British companies and the choice of apartments as accommodation. «It is a reality,» they say in the employer’s office, the growth of hiring tourist packages from other destinations competing for sun and beach like Turkey (+ 69%), Tunisia (+ 41%) or Egypt (+ 58%), standing out among them , the province of Antalya (Turkey), which exceeds Benidorm in 60,000 tourist packages contracted this summer ».

Regarding the lower air capacity compared to 2017, Hosbec has detected that the UK airlines have cut 26,210 seats offered to the Alicante-Elche airport in September.

«Although it does not equal the occupation of the previous year, you should not be disappointed with these numbers,» said Antonio Mayor, president of Hosbec, who admitted that «there is no other solution to continue working and seducing different markets so that come to Benidorm ».