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Residential Tourism in Costa Blanca
We are flocking to Spain for our holidays in greater numbers
than ever before. But forget the old annual fortnight's package
holiday. Now we want to hop on a low-cost flight to our own home
in Spain - preferably, for two thirds of us, on the Costa Blanca
or Costa del Sol - and we want to visit it at least four times a
year with friends and family. These are the findings of a new
report by Lighthouse Spain, which caters for 'residential
tourists': people who have shifted from spending package
holidays to buying a holiday home there instead.
While the Spanish property and construction markets boom, along
with local services catering for residential tourists such as
furniture shops, supermarkets and restaurants, many hoteliers
are hanging up their room keys in despair as they watch 14
million Brits each year head to Spain, only to see 4.1 million
of them last year stay in a property belonging to friends or
relatives instead of in a hotel.
"Spain is by far the number one destination for residential
tourists and the Costa Blanca is particularly popular because of
its excellent year-round climate, good infrastructure and
extensive expat communities," says Shaun Powell, Managing
Director of Lighthouse Spain, which works with a network of
ethical Spanish estate agents to sell holiday homes to British
and other Northern European buyers.
"In Costa Blanca, especially in the south of the region, you
still have a large choice of properties available from 100,000
euros, so people who have been priced out of the Costa del Sol
can still afford a Spanish holiday home on a popular coastline,"
adds Powell. "Home owners have the added benefit of being able
to rent out their home to other holidaymakers so their property
is a source of enjoyment and investment."
The Costa Blanca has been a bastion of package tourism since the
1960s. But now it has become a hub of residential tourism, with
Alicante airport witnessing passenger numbers from the UK rise
by 30% in 2003.
Colin Pinfold from Sutton on Sea, Lincolnshire, is a typical
residential tourist. Having spent many package holidays on the
Costa Blanca in the past, he and his wife now want to retire
there permanently and have just bought a 140,000 euro townhouse
in Torrevieja through Lighthouse Spain.
"I've been looking at the Costa Blanca since the children left
home and when we went out there recently the agent was
brilliant. He drove us everywhere for five days, took us for
meals, sorted out a lawyer and opened a bank account," says
Pinfold. "We're moving out there as soon as we've sold our house
in England and we'll see our kids and grandkids far more. It
takes them five hours to drive to see us in Sutton on Sea. It'll
be quicker for them to fly to Alicante."
Jackie Gulliford, who works at Oxford University, and her
husband, a teacher, are looking at properties with Lighthouse
Spain in southern Costa Blanca with good rental potential. "We
used to own a property near Cadiz with another couple, but after
23 years we sold our share as they wanted to let it out and I
felt there weren't enough visitors to that area to make it
worthwhile. So now we're buying on our own in the Costa Blanca
as prices are reasonable and it should be easy to let out. It
would also be a good place to spend winters when we retire."
While Benidorm, with its long sandy beaches and year-round
entertainment, remains a thriving resort for foreign and Spanish
tourists, surrounding coastal and inland towns which have been
little-known to the average British holidaymaker are starting to
figure on the residential tourist's map.
As prices in prime coastal locations such as Calpe and Javea
approach those on the Costa del Sol - with
seaview villas from
600,000 euros and apartments from 350,000 euros - inland towns
and villages within easy access of the coast's facilities are
growing in appeal for foreign buyers.
"Hotels are becoming non-existent in some places as more
foreigners buy properties as a holiday base instead," says Tomás
Mazón, Professor in the Sociology of Tourism at Alicante
University. "There is a shift inland among foreign second home
buyers who want to live in small, less developed villages with a
higher quality of life, but which are well connected to the
coast by motorways," says Mazón.
Funded by the Valencian Government to research the impact of
residential tourism in the Alicante province, Mazón recently
interviewed 1,000 foreign home owners who spend at least six
months a year in the province; 93% said they came for the
climate while 64% said they enjoy a better quality of life in
Spain than in their own country. Most had visited the area for
years as tourists before buying.
"The whole coast from Denia to Torrevieja is seeing the
phenomenon of foreign buyers, and second-line towns such as
Rojales and San Miguel de Salinas are seeing frenetic activity -
as are almost all of the villages in the Bajo Segura area where
there are plans to build 160,000 tourist homes and nine new golf
courses," says Mazón. "Certain inland towns too are seeing a
noticeable increase in interest, including Castalla, Ibi and
Jijona." Peter Walker, a football reporter from Gerrards Cross,
Bucks, is looking with Lighthouse Spain for something a short
distance inland, possibly in need of renovation. "When the
children were small, package holidays were the best option, but
now I'm more likely to take a flight and stay at a friend's
property - the kind of thing I'd like to own myself. Ideally I'd
fly out for weekends and rent it out a bit too."
Atlas International also report a surge in interest in the
quieter side of the Costa Blanca, in towns such as Finestrat, 40
minutes from Alicante airport, where Atlas has three-bedroom
townhouses from £153,500. "Inland properties offer a wider
choice for people looking to move out to Spain permanently. The
Sierra de Hondon, for example, set among mountains and
vineyards, is an ideal rural retreat for those who seek country
living abroad," says Atlas's Managing Director, James Stockdale.
At least one million Brits are estimated to own homes in Spain
and it's just the start. "With many people able to release
equity from their UK properties, and higher inheritance sums and
disposable income, owning a home abroad is becoming a reality
for far more people in Britain than would have been imaginable
10 years ago," says Lighthouse Spain's Shaun Powell.
Tony Gatehouse, Chairman of Medsea Estates, concurs that
residential tourist numbers are set to boom: "In the next
decade, about 2.3 million British people over 50 will retire
abroad and the vast majority will choose Spain," says Gatehouse,
who comments that alongside the constant demand among those
planning their retirement, there is a growing trend for younger
people to live and work in Spain, which is opening up new areas
of interest.
"We are seeing increasing demand away from our original market
around Torrevieja in favour of the north, towards Valencia, and
south around Murcia. Our off-plan properties in the Nuevo Torre
Guil development are popular as they are in a large forested
area near Murcia city but near some of the best beaches on the
Mediterranean coast."
About the author:
Zoe Dare Hall is a regular contributor to
http://www.lighthouse-spain.com, a unique service aimed at
taking the risk and stress out of buying a property in Spain.
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