On October 29, Spain came to a standstill due to the DANA tragedy in the province of Valencia. The dramatic images of devastated cities continue to travel around the world and with them another unexpected effect has arrived in Alicante: mass cancellation of hotel reservations.
The first to point out that this month of November was very weak compared to an “extraordinary October” were the hoteliers. The rooms of theYou the city’s restaurants suddenly stopped receiving customers.
Disbelief in the hospitality sector spread, unable to understand what was happening while they were engaged in help the tens of thousands of people affected as much as possible with different campaigns they promoted.
And meanwhile, hotels in Alicante were receiving calls about cancellations, many of them. Luis Castillo, president of the Provincial Association of Hotels and Tourist Accommodations, Apha, explains that “We have significant cancellations since October 29which in some cases are very important.
Without mentioning the specific names of the hotels that suffered the most, Castillo cites some of the most notable cases. “A hotel already has 150,000 euros in cancellations between conferences, events and private clients. Another, 30,000 and another, 8,000.”
He himself saw it that way too. “In my case, They suspended a conference I had at the Tabarca Hotel.“, which also lasted several days,” he explains. A situation which contrasts with the tourist reception records recorded in September and October at the airport.
Castillo points to two reasons as the causes of the cancellations. “In the foreign domain in particular, many pass through the airport to get to Valencia or spend two days in Valenciaa week in Alicante,” he says.
The second cause in this market is “that Not everyone has such a clear idea of distances. In the end, what was said was Valencia, the Valencian Community. A situation that has been experienced as an example in cases like the Lorca earthquake and the scandalous drop in hotel occupancy rates in Murcia.
More recent is the case of “Marrakech and the occupation in Morocco in general has collapsed”. To counteract this effect, “we We are already in a plan to explain that Alicante and the province are not affectedThank God”.
A proposal that emerged this week given the seriousness of the data mentioned. Castillo emphasizes that during this meeting “with several hotels it was decided to develop a reactivation plan, to explain that everything is going very well here.”
