Costa Blanca

Beginning in April, Alicante hosts two to three ships per week to kick off the cruise season

The cruise terminal at Alicante Port is getting ready to welcome tourists for the 2025 season, hoping to set a new record. Although they are theoretically larger and more capacious, the 100 tourist ships that are scheduled to arrive are essentially the same number as those that were reached in 2024, when over 230,000 people were reached. According to this newspaper, the Seabourn Sojourn, a ship operated by the Seabourn Cruise Line shipping firm, is expected to land this Sunday, March 2nd, with about 435 passengers on board. This stopover will serve as the campaign’s launchpad. We will have to wait until March 31st for the second visit, when Marella Cruises’ Marella Explorer 2, which will be carrying 1,723 guests, arrives.

With the oddity that 16 double stops (two ships docking at the terminal simultaneously) and even a triple one, scheduled for August 1, when the simultaneous arrival of the MSC Virtuosa, the MSC Música, and the Silver Whisper (in this third case, a smaller passenger ship) is expected to bring in approximately 10,000 cruise passengers in a single day, this milestone will actually be the one that kicks off the bulk of a program with visits from two to three ships each week after two blank months (January and February).

In actuality, MSC bears a great deal of the blame for these preliminary numbers—the schedule is always subject to potential changes owing to cancellations or new confirmations—and its reaffirmed dedication to using Alicante as a base port for embarkations and disembarkations on one of its Mediterranean itineraries (20 out of 32 stops) for the fourth season in a row since it first introduced this experience in the summer of 2022. However, it won’t be the sole protagonist. Throughout the year, Carnival UK offers up to eleven stops, while Regent Seven Seas Cruises has scheduled an additional seven. The addition of the Queen Anne ship, which can accommodate 2,846 passengers, and the Cunard shipping company, which will make two stops in August and October, as well as the debut of ships from companies like Saga Cruises, Scenic Cruises, Emerald Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Costa Cruises, Ambassador Cruise Line, or Royal Caribbean that have not yet made a stop in Alicante, are also considered new elements.

Purchase the “luxury” ticket.

According to these preliminary projections, 2025 is expected to end with a record of at least 234,659 passengers, 19.7% higher than the 196,058 recorded in 2023, according to Puertos del Estado’s provisional annual statistics at the end of 2024. According to current projections, 2025 may see a minimum of 232,000 passengers, though this could rise based on each ship’s occupancy rate. After the improvement and modernisation projects completed by its concessionaire company, Global Ports Holding (GPH), in collaboration with Servicios Portuarios Canarios (GPH), there will be the incentive of a refurbished maritime terminal with new amenities like baggage control scanners and additional passenger check-in counters.

After having to be postponed last November due to the Dana tragedy that devastated nearly a hundred towns in the province of Valencia, this intervention, which has involved renovating the facilities and aesthetics of the maritime station with an investment of more than two million, will be launched at an official opening ceremony set for May 23rd.

But in addition to continuing to grow in numbers, GPH and the Port Authority are also attempting to invest in a different cruise market in an effort to attract high-end tourists who will bring in more money while visiting the capital or any other province municipality to which they can go after planning an excursion, or who are looking for unusual experiences that are not available elsewhere. This would entail making a qualitative change to ensure a larger economic impact—current estimates show that cruise activity brings in 60 million dollars for the province—without running the risk of a hypothetical flow saturation scenario, where too many passengers arrive in the province concentrated on the same routes. Based on the advice and information service provided by the Alicante Costa Blanca Tourism and Cruises Association (ALCTC) at the ship’s door, this option also permits advancement in other business domains, such as the area of company investments or house acquisitions.

Other tourist areas, like Cartagena, have actually already started to follow this road, despite the fact that they also continue to have double-digit annual growth, albeit with fewer visitors overall than Alicante. In this instance, 2024 ended with 219,432 visits, a 16.9% increase over 2023’s total of 187,768 at the time. As of right now, the Port Authority anticipates that about one-third of the 100 stopovers scheduled for 2025 will fall into the luxury cruise market. Examples of these include the Seabourn Sojourn, a luxury cruise ship with 435 passengers on board, which is scheduled to call at the Port this Sunday, and the Scenic Eclipse, a modern ship built in 2018 with 228 passengers that is designed to navigate through polar regions and offers expedition trips around the world.

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Related Topics:2025 Alicante Land Luxury Market Money People Province Queen Show Tourism Tourist Tourists Valencia Visitors

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Costa Blanca

Consum announces the opening of new stores in Aldaia, Alaquàs, Sueca, Xàtiva, Massanassa and Torrevieja

Consum expands its operations in the Valencian Community and announces the opening of additional stores in six towns throughout Valencia. The Valencian cooperative’s comprehensive network of supermarkets in the region is further enhanced by these new openings.

New Consum stores are scheduled to open in Valencia in 2025

The following are the new stores that Consum will establish in the towns of Valencia:

Alaquàs

Aldaia

Massanassa

Sueca

Xàtiva

Torrevieja (Alicante)

Three of the stores that were acquired from Kuups last year have enabled the establishment of some of these new supermarkets. These have already been assigned an estimated opening date:

Massanassa (C/ Medi Ambient), which is scheduled to commence operations at the conclusion of May.
Alaquàs (Av. Blasco Ibáñez) and Aldaia (Av. Miguel Hernández) will launch under the Consum brand in the middle of the year.
Consum intends to maintain its pace of establishing 53 new supermarkets in 2025, including 18 of its own stores and 35 Charter stores, as well as to execute 31 renovations and expansions.

In 2024, Consum achieved revenues of €4,707.03 million, a 7.3% increase, and profits of €108.7 million, a 7.5% increase from the previous year. These figures substantiate the business model advocated by the Valencian cooperative, which is founded on price competitiveness, a diverse selection of leading brands without sacrificing the quality of its own brand, and a steadfast dedication to ensuring customer savings through discounts and gift vouchers. More than €62.2 million has been allocated to this initiative.

Antonio Rodríguez Lázaro, the CEO of Consum, stated that “these results are indicative of the dedication of our entire team, the confidence of our customers, and our capacity to adjust to change while maintaining our commitment to sustainability and innovation.”

It maintained its sixth position in the national classification of distribution companies by surface area throughout the year, increasing its market share by 0.1% to 4.7% of the national market. Nielsen reports that its market share by sales in its area of influence is 13.45%.

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Costa Blanca

The El Raso, Guardamar celebrates with a Tapas Route and concerts between May 15th and 17th

The programme for the third edition of the Guardamar del Segura City Council’s festivities has been unveiled in collaboration with the residents’ association of the El Raso Urbanisation, an area that is home to a significant number of international residents.

Between May 15th and 17th, the El Raso Urbanisation will commemorate its festivities with a Tapas Route and concerts. The festivities will take place on Thursday, May 15th and Friday, May 16th, and will feature an International Tapas Route featuring twelve establishments, which is two more than the previous year. María Venerdi, the Councillor for Festivals, has announced that participants will be able to experience tapas and a drink for 3.50 euros. Additionally, participants will have the opportunity to participate in a drawing for a variety of rewards and vote for their preferred tapa on the “Tapaporte.” Last year’s edition saw the sale of over 7,000 tapas, as emphasised by the local organisers.

José Luis Sáez, the mayor of Guardamar, has emphasised the significance of “neighbourhoods becoming increasingly integrated into the dynamics of the municipality,” and he has noted that this event has “consolidated itself and become a great gastronomic celebration for the municipality.”

The city council will also offer a transport service that will travel to all participating venues in order to simplify the process of travelling.

Auditorio del Campo will host a grand celebration on Saturday, May 17th, commencing at 6 p.m. The event will feature a variety of musical groups, including the Costa Blanca Singers, who will serve as the opening act.

The charitable nature of these festivities has been emphasised by the Guardamar councillor for Festivals. The El Raso festival committee has sold T-shirts for the Tapas Route at a price of 10 euros. The proceeds of these sales, in addition to those from the bar service on the 17th, will be donated entirely to charitable causes, including the ‘El Milagro de Ver’ Foundation, which is dedicated to enhancing eye health in developing countries, and to those impacted by DANA in Valencia.

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Costa Blanca

Elche joins the national protests for Palestine on May 10th

Tomorrow, Saturday May 10th, the Elche Palestine Solidarity Committee has scheduled a demonstration in accordance with the national mobilisations under the slogan “Move for Palestine.” The march will commence at 7:00 p.m., and the rally will be held at the Chimeneas de L’Algeps in Elche at 6:30 p.m.

The initiative aims to denounce the situation in Gaza and Palestine as a whole, and to encourage citizens to demonstrate their solidarity and demand genuine action to halt the violence. The Elche Palestine Solidarity Committee extends an invitation to all individuals, irrespective of their gender or age, to participate in this collective demonstration.

As part of a coordinated campaign to increase awareness of the situation in Palestine and demand an end to the violence and occupation, this mobilisation is one of a series of demonstrations that have been organised in various cities throughout Spain.