The Region of Valencia wants Benidorm to host Abta’s Travel Convention by 2027.
Nuria Montes, Valencia’s regional minister for tourism, industry, innovation and trade, described the British market as vital and said visitor numbers have fully recovered following the pandemic.
She added: “We’re working hard with Abta to have the Travel Convention in Benidorm in the next three or four years.”
More: Sri Lanka hails ‘amazing comeback’ as it targets five million tourists by 2029
The Region of Valencia welcomed a total of 2.2m UK visitors last year, Montes said, with 88% of them going to the Province of Alicante, home to the Costa Blanca. Of those who visited Alicante, 52% went to Benidorm.
“British people feel at home in our region,” Montes told Travel Weekly during WTM London.
“They know our streets, our restaurants, hotels and beaches around the city – and they have easy connections by flight.”
Most UK visitors to Alicante fly from Manchester, with Gatwick in second place and Bristol third. The top airline is Ryanair, followed by easyJet and Jet2.
Montes said: “The British market is absolutely essential for us. It’s the most important foreign market for the Region of Valencia.”
The region welcomed a 16.2% increase in UK visitors in January to August of this year compared with the same period in 2022, according to Montes.
“We’re fully recovered and in 2024 we’ll be up on 2019 – we think we’ll be about 10% up,” Montes said.
She added that the Israel-Hamas conflict would lead to more visitors for European destinations.
This year’s Travel Convention, hosted by Bodrum in Turkey, heard Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer suggest that the industry is on the “threshold of a new era” because of artificial intelligence and rising temperatures.