The Association of Tourist Promoters of Roquetas De Mar, which is made up of hoteliers from the municipality, launched an offensive to contact the administrations in order to demand coordinated action to allow regular flights to be recovered. They consider it essential to break with seasonality which hinders the preservation of the tourism industry in the province and especially in the city.
Francisco Garcia, the president of the organization, met with Gabriel Amat, the mayor of Rock. He is now waiting for the constitution of the Junta de Andalucia, in order to meet with the new heads from Tourism. They will accept the words of the PP during the electoral campaign, which pledged to help with flight recovery.
Garcia explained to IDEAL how regular flights are crucial to attract visitors from abroad and those from other provinces. The sector in Almeria is currently dependent on tour operators. He said that “We have relied a lot upon the tour operator,” recalling the last year’s situation when few foreign tourists arrived in Almeria due to the fact that the tour operators hadn’t yet begun operations when travel conditions improved. However, the destinations with strong connections with regular flights like Malaga did see more activity from foreign markets.
Hoteliers are attracted to the Board, Diputacion, and town halls because they can unite their resources to negotiate regular flights with airlines. Francisco Garcia says that the reality right now is that Almeria has broken records in terms of hotels for sale, while Benidorm and Malaga are “bursting at the seams”.
Garcia was confident in the competitiveness and quality of the hotel industry in the Province. However, Garcia felt it necessary that flights be the same as to Malaga in order to encourage foreign clients to choose Almeria due to its excellent prices and high standards. hotels as well as the destination in general.
It would be coordinated action among administrations. The association is waiting for the arrival of the new Tourism delegate. He will propose the creation of a Professional Tourism Board, in which professionals take part, and demand that measures are taken to promote the flights.
Francisco Garcia, president of the Association of Tourist Promoters of Roquetas de Mar warned of the slowdown at Almeria Airport while other nearby airport facilities show remarkable growth. Comparing the Aena data in 2004 with the 2019 data, Almeria has very similar numbers with slight growth (830.930 travelers in 2004, 979.406 in 2019, and 830.930 in 2019). Granada Airport has seen a remarkable increase in activity, with 1,252,019 passengers reaching Granada Airport in 2019. This is despite the fact that it has historically registered significantly less activity than Almeria. In 2004, the airport had just 590,931 passengers. Alicante also saw a remarkable growth. It went from 8.5 million travelers in 2004 to 15 million in 2019, while Malaga has increased from 12 million to nearly 20 in 2019.
