The Economy of Alicante
Alicante is widely accepted as one of Spain’s fastest growing economic regions and has held this coveted position for a long time. This, however, was not always the case and between the 1920s and 1960s, it was largely a stagnating and a declining economy. And while its recovery due to tourism has been remarkable and record setting, Alicante’s economy has traditionally always relied on industry and trade. This was the prevalent economic trend in Alicante Spain so much so that up till the 1980s when it lost its position to Valencia’s harbor, Alicante was widely regarded as one of the bigger trading ports in the region.
And while it might have lost its position of the region’s biggest trading port to the Valencian harbors, it is still popularly regarded as the biggest cruise port in the neighboring provinces with and annual traffic of almost 100,000 people through its sea harbor. Today the Alicante Port Authority is again in a position to take the fight back to Valencia as it plans to reclaim part of its trading coast and establish and industrial Estate there.
The real backbone to Alicante’s industrial re-growth, which has once again put it into a position today where it can compete with the neighboring ports, has actually been its widely credited tourism and property and construction industry. After the economic decline of the 1980s, Alicante reinvented itself into the tourist hub that it is widely known as today and in doing so, attracted large numbers of skilled labor and interested investors. This not only brought Alicante into the international limelight but also ensured that the city, much like what Dubai witnessed in the past two decades, experienced sustained development. Today, much of Alicante’s Economy is dependent on its tourism reputation and this services sector remains, to date, the corner stone of Alicante’s Economy.