Presumably, as Holy Week concludes and the festive rush begins this Sunday, hotels, restaurants, bars, and cafes along the Costa Blanca will be stretched to capacity. Some establishments may even have to apologize to guests for not being able to seat them dinner when the demand is at its peak. This pattern is typical of bridges and holidays when weather cooperates anywhere on the Costa Blanca.
Vibrant beaches, crowded streets, and terraces buzzing with a pre-summer vibe translate into tens of millions of euros in turnover. Is the crisis over? Not quite. The industry that sustains roughly 300,000 jobs needs steady, year‑round activity, not just bursts of activity during peak periods. There is still a long road ahead and a summer that many business leaders and analysts have long anticipated. The fear is that external shocks like geopolitical tension or lingering health concerns could derail momentum once more. There are still about three months to go, and while other parts of the Costa Blanca may face a tougher May and June, the days ahead could still feel like a nightmare averted for now. The overarching message remains: the recovery must accelerate, not stall, as spring gives way to summer.
Against this backdrop, questions arise about government support. While the government speaks loudly about tourism’s importance and the numbers that back it up, there is a sense that sector relief has once again been insufficient. No direct aid, no tax exemptions, no VAT relief, and no targeted incentives. It seems, at times, that some decision-makers assume tourism can stand on its own. Yet, the data tell a different story: a hotel can’t survive on weekend traffic alone, nor can a cafe operate with breakfast service that runs only from 9 to 11 in the morning. The entire supply chain—hotels, eateries, transport services, and ancillary vendors—depends on sustained activity to stay afloat.
From the pandemic onward, the economic hit on tourism has been profound. Alicante province suffered losses totaling about 10 billion euros, amounting to roughly 70 percent of annual activity over two very difficult years. The sector has struggled to regain its cruise-speed after a slow post-pandemic recovery, with a direct impact on national GDP. In 2020, tourism contributed around 3.6 billion euros to a 12.8 billion euro tourism-related GDP, marking a dramatic downturn that echoed across the broader economy. The result was a contraction of the national GDP to about 25.8 billion euros, a drop of nearly a quarter.
Today, some hotels are reopening this weekend for the first time since October 2019, after fighting through the disruptions of the pandemic and last year’s ongoing restrictions. As Palm Sunday arrives, optimism is tempered with caution as the industry watches to see whether Easter will produce a surge or merely a pause before the next cycle of demand. A manager of a key destination noted that business must operate year-round, not just during peak moments, underscoring the need for consistent, diversified revenue streams rather than relying on seasonal peaks alone.
The path forward is complicated by ongoing instability abroad, including conflict in Europe, which affects travel demand and fuel costs for transportation providers such as railways. Local leaders have taken steps to ease some fiscal pressures; for instance, a regional president reduced several autonomous taxes by 10 percent. While this is a welcome move, many argue that broader, coordinated national support remains essential to sustain the tourism ecosystem and the broader economy that relies on it.
There is a frustration that Madrid’s bureaucratic approach can slow progress, with concerns that bureaucratic hurdles and limited access to Next Generation funds leave many tourism businesses without the resources they need. The sector has faced periods when international travel paused and then resumed in fits and starts, including support allocations from regional and national authorities that felt more like temporary Band-Aids than durable relief.
Since March 2020, the travel of certain tourist markets, including British visitors, has faced repeated disruptions, with some flights canceled mid-journey due to lingering health concerns. The total relief already allocated remains a fraction of what is needed, and the money appears insufficient to fully cushion the industry against ongoing volatility.
To explain the economic picture, hotels that were shut or operating with slim margins still bore fixed costs—monthly expenses ranging widely from tens of thousands to over a hundred thousand euros. These costs are often amortized only when revenue streams resume, making it difficult to cover loans, rents, and ongoing operating expenses when activity remains muted. Even as 2019 showed strong performance, the subsequent years of the crisis left little room for maneuver, with 2020 and 2021 proving exceptionally challenging and 2022 not delivering a full rebound.
The situation extends to the broader tourism chain—hostels, bars, cafes, travel agencies, and other ancillary services. Loans can help, but monthly debt obligations become unmanageable without steady activity. Tourism and accommodation are critical economic pillars for Alicante, yet revenue declines have ranged from 70 to 90 percent in some subsegments. Even businesses not directly linked to payrolls, such as bakeries, laundries, elevators, and locksmiths, felt the ripple effects as the travel ecosystem faltered and the workforce faced ERTEs and related constraints. Summer remains distant, with tourism still playing catch-up and often reacting to patchwork fixes rather than strategic reform.
Volume alone does not guarantee profitability, especially in a fragile climate where many firms stay open with limited, uncertain earnings. Still, there is cautious optimism for a healthier Easter and signs of green shoots in the spring, with hopes that a more robust season will follow.