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Issue 931
25th-31st August 2017
Reporting The News
Tourists need better airport service by Ray Chadwick REPRESENTATIVES of a number of tourist organisations on the Costa Blanca have demanded the provincial government of Alicante improve the current transport situation at Alicante-Elche Airport.
They are asking for more overnight connecting transport links as more passengers are waiting longer and longer for taxis and non-existent bus services. The major concern is the bad first impression given to tourists as they arrive in the area. Some arrivals landing after midnight have been forced to wait for up to an hour for a taxi with no other forms of transport available. Toni Mayor, president of hotel management group HOSBEC, said: “A tourist shouldn’t need to wait more than
ten minutes for a taxi at the airport,” although he did accept that the majority of people that do arrive in the early hours of the morning do have someone waiting for them. He suggested that airlines could establish a line of communication with the taxis to ensure that more are available at certain times to coincide with the schedules. The president of tourist organisation APTUR went one step further in his comments: “It is not welcome that tourists arrive and have no transportation options. While the terminal is open and until the last passenger has left, there should be alternatives.” Tourism Minister in Alicante, Eduardo Dolón – the previous mayor of Torrevieja – said that while airport traffic has continued to grow in recent years, “services haven’t improved at a similar rate.”