Thursday, June 26, 2008

24/7 Valencia

Just to let you know that the best magazine for finding out what is happening in Valencia is still going strong. Check out the latest edition online at the following link

Loads of great photos and a special article about the Malvarrosa beach area.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Summertime and the living is easy.



Fish are not actually jumping and we don't have cotton as far as i know around Valencia but the sun is now cracking the tiles finally so bring your sun cream and T shirts when you do a viewing trip and expect the air conditioning in my car to be on because summer has arrived, just as we get to the longest day and officially summer is here anyway.

Enjoy the many pleasures that Valencia can offer you when the heat arrives and that includes loads of ice cream parlours and walks through the riverbed in the shade of the trees.

Monday, June 09, 2008

A Spanish Auction Site

I have just receieved a message from a contact of mine who runs an excellent auction site for Spain. Unlike eBay there are no charges for listing so if you have something you want to sell you may just find a buyer here in Spain and save yourself a lot on postage costs and listing costs as a result.

The text below was written by Suzanne who runs the site. Feel free to sign up.

"I have lived here in Spain for nearly 11 years and one of the things I miss about England is the accessibility to buy and sell items. If you buy a car you can spend ages trying to sell it again. If you want a certain item in England where would you look? Local Paper, Ebay! I used to use Ebay but found the postage costs to Spain too high. Not only that Ebay now charge extortionate fees.

Due to all this I decided to start up an online auction site here in Spain for English speakers. I launched the site on 1st March this year and already have over 800 registered users. There are some great items on there from Cars and Boats, Bikes and Buggys, to clothes, toys, books, records, furniture etc etc etc.
I hope that this site will become a great asset to Expats all over Spain. Not only do you buy and sell but many of our users, who have bought or sold things, have met up to deliver and collect items if they are in the same area, and become friends.

The best thing about this site is that it is FREE to list your items.

Please take the time to check out the site www.sellitonthecoast.com and please mention us in conversation. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising.

HAPPY BIDDING, BUYING AND SELLING."

Rain


One thing that you want when you come to live in Spain is good weather of course. However this must be counterbalanced by the need to have water. Therefore I can put good spin on the fact that in the last month and a half in Valencia it has rained every day at some stage except for two days. I have lived here for nine years and have never known it like this. Sometimes the rain is the very welcome nighttime rain but today it is grey, throwing it down and not looking as if it will clear up for some time yet. For those of you visiting this week for tourist purposes or to look for a property to buy, bring your wellies.

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Valencia Tourist Numbers Continue to Rise

In the first quarter of 2008, 1.6 million international tourists visited the Region of Valencia, according to the Encuesta de Movimientos Turísticos en Frontera (FRONTUR) survey of inbound tourist movements. This figure represents an 8.7% increase on the same period of the previous year, putting the Region of Valencia above the average growth figure registered for Spain as a whole (3.3%).


The survey reveals that in the first four months of the year, a total of 15.2 million international tourists arrived in Spain. The Region of Valencia was one of three regions that registered the highest growth in foreign tourism in comparison with last year, along with Madrid and the Canary Islands, and is now the fourth most visited region in Spain. This positive outcome is largely due to outstanding growth in tourism from the main country of origin, the United Kingdom, which increased 4.4%, as well as from secondary countries of origin, France and Scandinavia mainly, which currently represent 52% of all international visitors to the Region of Valencia.



April, the strongest month

April was the busiest month for destinations in the Region, with an increase of 4.2% in international tourism, a figure that contrasts sharply with the trends observed in other Spanish tourist destinations, where foreign tourism has decreased by 1%. In turn, these figures show that Valencia has been one of the least affected regions by the negative impact of this year's early Easter Break. In total, 483,000 tourists visited the Region of Valencia in April, 43.6% from the United Kingdom and 16% from France. These figures denote an increase in the number of visitors from these countries in comparison with April 2007: the British market has grown 1.2% and the French market has increased 17.4%. There was also a significant increase in visits from Italian and Scandinavian tourists, with increases of 16% and 54.9%, respectively. In April 2008, 4.7 million tourists arrived in Spain, 1% less than the previous year. However, when comparing the figures for March and April 2008 with the same two-month period the previous year, a 2.9% increase is observed in the influx of international tourists to Spain, which translates into 250,000 more arrivals.

Air travel and hotel accommodation

The vast majority of foreign tourists who visited the Region of Valencia came by plane. According to the survey, in the first quarter of 2008, 81.7% of all arrivals were by air. El Altet Airport, in the province of Alicante, was the main point of arrival for these visitors, accounting for 72% of all visits with a year-on-year increase of 30.9%. Manises Airport in Valencia also experienced growth of 27.1%. As for the rest of the country, close to 12 million tourists travelled to Spain by air in the first four months of 2008, representing a year-on-year increase of 4.9%. Road travel, on the other hand, experienced a decrease of 3.1% in the flow of tourists. In terms of accommodation, foreign tourists tended to opt for hotels, with an increase of 5.8% in comparison to the first quarter of 2007, which has led to a decrease in the figures for accommodation outside hotels. Over 10 million tourists stayed in Spanish hotels, representing 66.5% of the total. As for travel arrangements and organisation, in the period from January to April 2008, most foreign tourists preferred not to go on a package holiday (68%), whereas the remaining 31% did choose this mode. Both options, however, experienced year-on-year growth of 4.1% and 1.5%, respectively.

Ebay Auctions of Spanish Stuff

About Me

Today is a new day, the sun is in the Sky. I wake up this morning and greet the new day.