British tourists still prefer Alicante

August 15, 2008

British tourism has made Alicante’s El Altet the airport with the largest growth in the number of passengers so far this year.

El Altet closed June having registered nearly 4.6 million passengers, which constitutes an 11.5 per cent increase with regards to the same period last year.

Foreign tourism – fundamentally British thanks to the strength of the pound – and the consolidation of low-cost airlines such as easyJet and Ryanair are being hailed as the reasons behind Alicante achieving a higher level of business than the other seven airports considered first-class by managing body AENA.

This ‘top eight’ ranking includes Madrid’s Barajas, Palma de Mallorca, Málaga and Barcelona, which even experienced a drop in business compared to last year due to the inauguration of the AVE high-speed train link.

El Altet even managed to beat Tenerife-Sur airport, despite the height of the tourist season taking place in the Canary Islands in the first half of the year.

However, not everyone is celebrating the business boom. Flagship company Iberia dropped to fourth place on the list of most popular airlines, suffering a drop of 26 per cent in the number of flights operated in June and falling behind easyJet, Ryanair and Air Berlin.

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