May Day bookings up

TOURISM chiefs expect to register record occupation levels over this week’s bank holiday weekend.

With May 1 falling on a Monday this year, hotels and campsites were already more than 80 per cent booked up in advance last week, with last­minute reservations expected to flood in and take the final figures much higher.

At the time of going to press, Alicante airport had scheduled more than 1,200 flights with up to 220,000 passengers from this Friday to Monday, and the entire travel and tourism sector in the province predicted that this year would break records set before the Covid pandemic for this time of year.

Visitors from other parts of Spain are expected to be the most numerous, as those from Madrid are in for an even greater treat ­ May 2 is also a bank holiday in the Spanish capital, granting them a four­day break in the sun.

Regional hotelier association Hosbec has described the figures as “fantastic news”, with hotels in Benidorm reporting that 87 per cent of beds were already booked up one week before the bank holiday.

At the Racó, members of the Social Services and Health departments of Alfaz del Pi Town Hall, which also collaborated in the event,

THE Valencia regional government launched an aid scheme to help crisis­hit residents to pay for food shopping.

The ‘Bono Cesta de la Compra’ consists of a card with €90 that can be spent on food products in most supermarkets throughout the region within four months from the moment it is activated.

Appointments to request the voucher can be sent through bonocesta.gva.es until July 14, after which the application can be processed in person at any Correos post office or online by means of an elec­ handed out more than 1,000 bottles of water to participants.

“Thank you to all who have taken part and to the collaborators, as this march could not happen without you,” declared Anémona coordinator for Altea, Yolanda Cebrián, after the event.

Local Social Welfare and Health councillor José Luis Gascón highlighted the great turnout and reported that “800 solidarity t­shirts have been sold and we didn’t have enough for everyone, so we will have to print up more for next year.”