Alicante points to the ‘boom’ of tourist apartments in search of a new visitor profile

 ALICANTE The fever of the tourist apartments located in full urban helmet, that already devastates in other capitals like Barcelona (with its derivatives generated by the excesses, neighbors complaints and property disputes), arrives at Alicante to stay. And it does so to a large extent with the vocation of opening the market, in search of a new visitor profile: an urban tourist with a certain spending capacity and who does not necessarily stop at the city only in summer attracted by its offer of sun and beach . That is to say, a model of tourism very often of escapes,  with both national and foreign visitors over 25-30 years and, therefore, different from that associated with traditional apartmentsfrom the San Juan beach, in which we bet on longer stays (one week or two weeks, less and less, one month) and also different to visits for business purposes, preferably oriented towards hotels.

All of them are joined by others of recent creation, equipped with greater comforts (including what could be considered luxuries) with rates above 100 euros, such as Barbara 3 , on that same street, or the Salvetti Suites, in the same Palace name, in Castaños . And the list does not stop growing: works are underway to turn the Palace of Die , a protected building of the 18th century, into another sample of tourist apartments next to the concatedral and the building located between the street is also in the rehabilitation phase. San Vicente corner with Empecinado with the same purpose. Up to the Official Association of Quantity Surveyors has come to propose to the City Council a proposal to make compatible the use of the building of its future headquarters, on Altamira Street, with the development of apartments.

The new wave that constitutes this type of apartments is also reflected in the increase recorded in the official statistics (those declared) on the accommodation offer of the city. At the end of 2016, the Valencian Tourism Agency (AVT) had 1,214 tourist apartments in Alicante capital, with 6,540 places . The figures for 2010 are much smaller, almost half: 715 apartments with 2,574 seats. And if you compare it with the data of a decade ago, the evolution is still much more bulky. In 2006, there were only 334 apartments with 1,661 places .

Reconversion of buildings

It is true that this evolution is conditioned by the latest reforms in regional regulations that require registration of all tourist accommodation in the official register. Also for the inspection campaigns (still few, as the representatives of the regulated offer lament) that try to prosecute the fraud and have encouraged the emergence of many houses of tourist use so far clandestine. In fact, as published by Alicante Plaza , throughout 2016 in the province as a whole there were up to 7,010 tourist homes that until now remained in hiding.

However, apart from these additions, the figures allow us to witness the expansion of this model, based on the reform and reconversion of residential buildings already built to give them a tourist use . Above all, if we take into account that the crisis in the construction sector has also paralyzed the creation of new apartment buildings also on the coastal strip.

Eighth in number of apartments

These urban tourist accommodations have also helped to strengthen the position of Alicante in the market of apartments in the province. In the Costa Blanca as a whole, the register of tourist housing counts 26,344 apartments declared with 138,405 places . The rankingis headed by Benidorm , with 4,914. And they are followed by Calp  (3.137); Dénia  (2,738); Xàbia  (2,529); Torrevieja  (1,563); Orihuela  (1,445); and l’Alfàs del Pi (1,399). Alicante  is placed in eighth position with 1.214.