Alicante Approaches Pre-Pandemic Hotel Occupancy Levels in 2024

Professionals gathered at the Provincial Association of Hotels of Alicante (Apha) foresee the newly commenced year 2025 with "optimism" after concluding 2024 with a high occupancy rate of 75.7%, the best annual figure since 2019. This surpasses the 74.0% achieved in 2023 by 1.7 percentage points, yet narrowly misses the pre-coronavirus crisis figure of 76.3% recorded five years ago.

The year has also been positive in terms of profitability, highlighted by the 10.8% increase in the average daily rate for the entire year.

Prospects for 2025 are favourable for Alicante hoteliers, according to Apha. Despite uncertainties in the international geopolitical landscape, "the prevailing sentiment is one of optimism," the association indicates. The two major challenges to be addressed are, on one hand, "the need to expel from the tourism market those operators who act outside the law" and, on the other, "to continue advancing in the fight to reduce seasonality," so that tourism's positive impacts are more evenly distributed throughout the season.

This has been confirmed with the final data for the last month of 2024, as December's occupancy fell by 4 points compared to the same month the previous year. It recorded a hotel occupancy rate of 55.5% for the province of Alicante, an 8.5-point drop compared to November.

The analysis by localities shows notable differences: while the city of Alicante achieved 57.6% and Playa de San Juan 67.2%, other destinations also surpassed the provincial average, such as Jávea (60.8%) or Guardamar del Segura (64.0%). More modest results were reached in Dénia (39.0%), Alcoy (37.0%), or Villena (19.5%).

Regarding the origin of travellers, the majority were international (65.6%), while domestic demand stood at 34.4%. Among those arriving from outside Spain, the most numerous were from the United Kingdom.

As demands at the start of the year, Apha once again calls for the railway connection to the airport. The continued increase in passenger flow at the Alicante airport, once again setting records, "more than justifies the need for investment."