1 minute read
First arrivals
THE dreaded first operación salida (departure operation) of the summer took place at the weekend as the first holidaymakers flocked into Alicante Province.
July 1 is always a major traffic operation as visitors from other parts of Spain, mainly Madrid and other inland areas, descend on Gandia, Denia, Javea, Benidorm and all other major seafront resorts for the first half of the holidays.
The situation is repeated around the middle and at the end of the month and again in August, when streams of cars clog up the motorways and main roads in both directions as the first holidaymakers return home while the next lot arrive.
At the weekend an estimated 400,000 vehicles arrived in the province while all train connections from inland regions were full and more than 1,000 flights touched down at AlicanteElche airport.
National rail company Renfe had doubled three of the train connections from Madrid and Barcelona to Alicante with an extra 1,800 seats and reported occupation figures of 90 per cent between Friday June 30 and Sunday July 2.
