Low-cost tourism?

PRICES of holiday rentals in Benidorm have reached a record high.

One-bedroom flats on the first line of the beach are currently priced at €150 a day for the summer – which has not appeared to discourage visitors as up to 95 per cent of vacancies are already booked up for the first half of August.

Surprisingly, holiday flats in Alicante city centre are at the same price despite not being such a major international tourism magnet as Benidorm.

Although the provincial capital is still behind the Marina Baixa town in numbers of bookings, it is expected that they will spiral as summer draws near, as many visitors reportedly choose to confirm their visit at the last minute and analysts predict that occupation rates will be 20 per cent higher than last year.

Spokespeople for the tourism rental sector insist that they have done all they can to contain the figures and that there is in fact a wide range of prices depending on the area and number of rooms.

Either way, the same sources predict that profits this year will be higher than before the Covid pandemic.