The Costa Blanca Provincial Tourism Board is currently hosting five journalists specializing in travel and tourism from the United States. The aim is to strengthen the province's international profile and position the Hogueras de Sant Joan (Saint John's Bonfires) as a major cultural attraction of the Mediterranean.
The professionals have toured the Costa Blanca coinciding with the peak days of the Alicante festivities, which are declared of International Tourist Interest. During their stay, they have attended significant events, including a mascletà (firecracker display) and the traditional Ofrenda de Flores (Flower Offering), accompanied by the director of the Costa Blanca Tourism Board, José Mancebo.
This promotional activity is part of the provincial body's strategy to capture the interest of the North American market. The trip was organized in collaboration with the Spanish Tourism Office in New York, Turisme Comunitat Valenciana (Valencian Community Tourism), Turespaña (Spain's national tourism agency), and the involved municipalities.
The participants regularly contribute to some of the most widely circulated international travel and lifestyle publications. These include Lonely Planet, Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, National Geographic, AFAR, USA Today, Forbes, The Boston Globe, and Salon.com.
In addition to experiencing the Hogueras, the group has explored other key destinations in the province, such as the island of Tabarca, Santa Pola, Elche, and Benidorm. The objective is to showcase the diverse landscapes, culture, gastronomy, and heritage of the Costa Blanca.
The president of the Provincial Council of Alicante, Toni Pérez, highlighted that this trip «constitutes a strategic opportunity to reinforce the province's international projection and position the Hogueras de Sant Joan as one of the great tourist and cultural attractions of the Mediterranean, thanks to the dissemination these journalists will carry out in some of the main specialized media of the North American market».
Pérez also emphasized that actions like this «demonstrate that we are meeting the needs of a market as important as the North American one and are undoubtedly proof that the connection between both markets is increasingly necessary».
The US market shows positive growth for the province. During 2025, the Costa Blanca welcomed over 97,000 tourists from the United States, representing a 25% increase compared to the previous year and nearly 20,000 additional visitors.
Interest in traveling to Alicante is also growing in flight searches. In the last six months, more than 283,000 flight searches from the United States to Alicante have been recorded, primarily from New York, Miami, and Los Angeles, a 15% increase compared to the same period last year.
This initiative concludes the promotional strategy developed by the Patronato Costa Blanca during the first half of the year to strengthen the destination's positioning in North America. Actions undertaken include participation in the Toronto Golf & Travel Show, the Costa Blanca Showcase Travel USA & Canada event with USTOA operators, presence at Seatrade Cruise Global in Miami, Turespaña's Direct Workshops for North America in Montreal, and the NAFSA fair, specializing in language tourism and university exchange.
