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Date Published: 08/08/2023

Dutch tourists chase the British as the most frequent visitors to Alicante

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The Netherlands has overtaken France and Germany in tourist numbers to the Costa Blanca

Dutch tourists chase the British as the most frequent visitors to Alicante

It’s proving to be a bumper summer across the board for Alicante province and the lure of the Costa Blanca is spreading, with more Dutch tourists than ever flocking to its golden coasts.

Visitors from the Netherlands are now the biggest market in the province, following only the United Kingdom, having overtaken holidaymakers from Germany and France in the first half of 2023.

According to data published by the National Institute of Statistics for the month of June, 240,000 Britons winged their way to one of Alicante’s municipalities for their vacation, and a good way behind were Dutch tourists, 40,000 of whom chose the Costa Blanca as their holiday destination.

The Netherlands was ahead of other major markets such as France and Germany, which together with the United Kingdom represent the bulk of travellers to Alicante. In the list, the Germans were in third position with 36,000 tourists, followed by Norway (32,000), Belgium (30,000), France (29,000) and Ireland (26,000).

For Fede Fuster, president of the Hosbec hotel association, "there has always been a very important market in the Netherlands and Belgium." And while their numbers come nowhere close to the British, these holidaymakers have still contributed a significant amount to the province’s coffers this summer.

Interestingly though, the increase in the number of visitors from the Netherlands hasn’t translated in accommodation rentals, leading Miguel Ángel Sotilos, president of the Association of Tourist Apartment Companies (APTUR), to speculate that many Dutch families must already own a holiday home in Alicante.

On the flip side, the province has reported a rebound in holiday rentals booked by Italian tourists.

In any case, Mr Sotillos confirmed that, so far, "it’s been a good summer."

Alicante "has so much to offer,” he added, that it’s often difficult to convey the whole picture to prospective tourists.

In other news: Denia celebrates the hatching of 66 baby loggerhead turtles

Image: Jrv73 via Wikimedia Commons

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