FREE!
Your English Newspaper
Issue 593
Tourist visitors increase
NEW STATISTICS show that tourism to Spain is rising for the first time in 18 months. The Ministry of Industry says that 119,000 more tourists arrived in January 2011 than in January 2010. All in all, a total of 2.66 million visitors came to Spain this January. The largest group of visitors were the British: 500,619, followed by Germans and French.
SOUTH EDITION
25 FEB - 03 MARCH 2011
1
2
3
4
5
6
The Costa Blanca: Spain’s Florida by Patricia Thompson
7
8
9
Most wanted By Jan Gamm AS PART of ‘Operation Captura 2011’, UK based charity Crimestoppers and SOCA (Serious Organised Crime Agency) are hot on the trail of Britain’s most wanted criminals believed to be currently at large in the Alicante area, releasing ten profiles of the ‘most dangerous’, wanted for a range of crimes including drug trafficking, sex crimes and murder. Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Ken Gallagher, Head of European Operations for SOCA, said: “Operation Captura is helping make the ex-pat community in Spain an uncomfortable place for fugitives. Having the public’s attention focused on these individuals goes a long way to making it harder for them to hide and should act as a warning that Spain is no safe haven for British criminals.” To find out why these men are on the most wanted list turn to page 3.
not happy with your wireless service?
Change to us for
FREE
ON WEDNESDAY this week key seminars took place in Alicante under the heading ‘Active and healthy aging in the Comunidad Valenciana’. One speaker, Ricardo Moragas, Professor of Sociology and Social Gerontology at the University of Barcelona, produced statistics showing that in Spain the average life expectancy is between 75 and 82 years of age whilst in the UK and Germany life expectancy is between 74 and 80. For the elderly who move to Spain from the more Northern European countries, statistics show improvements in health problems like arthritis and patients are very often able to reduce the amount of drugs that they are receiving. “Overall findings evidence much better health is maintained here, rather than in colder countries,” he said. A greater adherence to a Mediterranean diet rich in fruit, fresh vegetables and fish offers substantial protection against Heart disease, Cancer, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, and the elderly who relocate to Spain are shown to have a significant improvement in health status. Likewise the climate has significant advantages with moderate levels of sunshine being shown to enhance the immune system, encourage healthy circulation, boost one’s mood, enhance sleep and slow down the aging process. Attended by senior politicians and
healthcare officials from throughout the Valencian region, the aims of the seminars at the Alicante Meliá Hotel were to explore the therapeutic benefits of the Mediterranean climate and diet for the elderly, and to investigate whether European citizens properly know the services available to them and their dependents in the Region. The President of the Enterprise Association of Residences and Services to Dependent People of the Valencian Community (Aerte), Alberto Giménez, spoke about how the Valencian Community now has all the elements, treatment centres and facilities to transform itself into “The new European version of Florida.” “Because of the climate, outdoor culture, quality of life and Mediterranean diet which are superior to those experienced in many other European countries and because of recent investment into the public health sector, the Valencian Community is extremely well placed to provide professional healthcare of the very highest order,” he stated. A wide variety of speakers including Vicente Arqués (Mayor of Alfaz del Pi); Lisette de Leeuw (Managing Director of Anneke Integral Care Services in La Nucia) and Pedro Valero Mazon (Torrevieja Councillor for Foreigners) outlined the range of possibilities opening up for the care of the elderly in both the public and private sector. Continued on page 3