Almeria airport gets new summer routes

It seems FITUR may be useful for something as Almeria Airport (code named LEI) has signed a series of new summer destinations at the trade fair.

Mind you, it doesn’t alter my theory that FITUR is just one big jolly for the boys one iota. Jet2 and TUI have been studying these destinations since last year, they just use the Madrid tourism fair as the press launch destination. Any hoo….

UK airline Jet2.com plans to offer more than 56,000 seats this summer on flights from Manchester, Leeds, East Midlands, Newcastle and Edinburgh.

The airline’s sister company, tour operator Jet2Holidays, announced that it has signed deals with 26 hotels across the province to sell their holidays to families in the UK. The group says that Almería is a perfect destination for budget family holidays in the sun. Great news for the large hotel operators that own the 26 all inclusive hotels – the rest of us won’t see a penny.

And operator TUI has announced a new twice weekly direct flight between Almería and Brujas (Belgium) starting later this year, which I think is the city of Bruges in English. The company already operates a twice weekly scheduled flight to Brussels.

A complete list of destinations served by LEI can be found on the AENA website here. This list is current destinations, not future ones it seems, so the summer destinations haven’t shown up yet.

By the way, if you’re flying to Germany from Almería, Esteban from the Almería Airport insider blog claims that you can currently buy tickets via the Hotels Playa website for just €79, much cheaper than on the official Germania airline website. www.vuelodirectoalmeria.com

The province is a popular destination amongst Belgium cycle groups, as anyone trying to drive near Mojácar at this time of year will discover to their cost. Mojácar is an official destination of the Belgium national cycle team, who come to this area to practise during the off-season and now Mojácar wants more.

Councillor Emmanuel Agüero of Mojácar council visited the recent “Velofollies” cycling exhibition held in the Belgium town of Kortrijk and held several meetings with local tour operators which he described as “highly productive” (well, he would, wouldn’t he?).

Agüero was accompanied by a representative from the Servigroup Hotels group who “presented the companies with resort information” according to the council press release.

Quote of the day goes to Andalusian minister for tourism Francisco Fernández who said (with a straight face): “This is the tangible fruit of the hard work my department has put into promoting the province to the world.”