Road infrastructure

It is currently served by several interurban and ring road highways, the most relevant of which are:

• - Alicante Ring Road: This is the main Alicante ring road that ends in Elche.

• - Second ring road of Alicante: It is a second ring road of Alicante, more orbital, which circles a good part of the metropolitan area.

• - Vía Parque Alicante-Elche: It is a direct urban road between Alicante and Elche, more permeable and that serves the industrial estates and scattered urban centers that are between both cities.

Buses

Although there are interurban lines that connect the areas of Alicante and Elche, both Alicante and Elche have their own network of urban and interurban buses:.

• - MIA - Alicante Intelligent Mobility:[17]​ It has 49 lines, including urban, metropolitan and night lines.[18]​.

• - Elche urban and peri-urban transport: It has 36 lines, including urban, peri-urban and night lines.

Railway

Regarding rail transport, it is served by:.

• - RENFE Commuter Network: This is a commuter train service that connects Alicante, Elche and in turn the universities of Alicante (San Vicente del Raspeig) and Elche with the entire Alicante-Murcia axis. It consists of 3 lines, two of which have a header in Alicante and one of them directly connects Elche with Alicante.

• - Alicante Metropolitan TRAM: It is the metropolitan railway service "Metro (transport system)") of Alicante, which combines light rail, train-tram and tram. It connects with its urban area and the entire northern part of the Costa Blanca up to Benidorm and Denia. It consists of 6 lines, 5 of which have their head office in Alicante. In 2022, more than 13 million travelers used this transportation network.[19]​.

• - Avant: Regional high-speed rail service, connecting the Alicante-Elche-Murcia axis with semi-direct and fast services with a frequency of 10 times a day in each direction.

There are two high-speed railway stations, one in Alicante (Alicante-Término) and another in Elche (Elche-High speed). Altogether, 88 long-distance or short-distance high-speed railway trains leave or arrive from the 2 stations per day.[20]​[21]​[22]​[23]​.

Airport

The Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández airport is the main transportation hub, being the fifth busiest airport in Spain and the first in the Valencian Community.[26]​.

It is currently traveled by more than 15 million passengers and serves more than 125 direct destinations.

It is also considered by the International Airport Council as the best airport in Europe in the category of airports through which between 15 and 25 million passengers pass through per year.[27]​.

Port

Passenger and vehicle ferries operate from the port of Alicante that connect the city with the ports of Algiers, Oran and Mostaganem,[28]​ all of them in Algeria. These lines transport about 150,000 passengers annually.[29]​.

There are also private catamaran lines that regularly connect the ports of Alicante and Santa Pola with the island of Tabarca, the only inhabited island in the Valencian Community, transporting up to 200,000 passengers annually.[30]​.

According to data from the Population and Housing Census "Census (statistics)") of the INE "National Institute of Statistics (Spain)"), dated 2021, 45.9% of the population of the metropolitan area worked in a municipality "Municipio (Spain)") other than their residence within the same province.[31]​.

This percentage is quite high, which denotes great labor mobility in the area. The municipalities that act as a dormitory city are more dependent and have higher percentages, while the two main municipalities, Alicante (30.5%) and Elche (39.2%), have the lowest percentages because it is the other municipalities that orbit around them.

From this census, by offering data broken down by size of the municipality, it is also clear that 7.5% of the employed residents of Alicante (8,946) worked in Elche, while 17.5% of the employed residents of Elche (15,033) commute daily to work in Alicante.[32]​.

Contenido

El eje Alicante-Elche es un importante nodo económico, industrial y logístico, albergando la sede de importantes empresas como TEMPE (INDITEX) o PLD Space, primera empresa española en construir cohetes espaciales.[34]​ Otras empresas como Banco Sabadell, Kelme o Panama Jack también tienen su sede en este eje.

Entre ambas ciudades se encuentra el Parque Empresarial de Elche, principal foco industrial de la provincia de Alicante e IFA (Institución Ferial Alicantina).

Por otra parte, en 2018 se fundó el distrito digital (Alicante) "Distrito Digital (Alicante)"), donde están instaladas 85 empresas del sector tecnológico.

En el área de Alicante tiene más peso el sector servicios mientras que en Elche el principal sector productivo es el industrial, principalmente el calzado que representa el 39 % del total de la producción nacional.[35]​.

En total, había 64 401 empresas instaladas en el área metropolitana en 2022. Esta cifra es superior a la de provincias enteras como Zaragoza (63 850) o Granada (62 568).[36]​.

Real estate sector

With Alicante being the third province in Spain in real estate transactions (57,946) in 2022 after Madrid (90,406) and Barcelona (70,721), the weight of the real estate sector in the metropolitan area is considerable.

During 2022, 18,834 transactions occurred, a figure, that of the metropolitan area, which is higher than 42 of the 50 provinces that make up Spain, including 6 autonomous communities.[37]​.

Tourism in the metropolitan environment is mainly based on residential and vacation tourism, both national and foreign, with important destinations for this type of tourism such as the coast of Elche, Alicante-Playa de San Juan "Playa de San Juan (Alicante)"), El Campello or Santa Pola-Gran Alacant.

In 2022, the metropolitan area was home to 16,141 regulated accommodation places that received 1,156,686 travelers and resulted in 2,948,145 overnight stays.[38]​.

In addition to vacation tourism, the port of Alicante is a base port[39]​ for cruise ships "Cruise (passenger ship)") and a regular stop for many lines from different shipping companies.

Business or conference tourism is concentrated mainly in the cities of Alicante and Elche and in the surroundings of IFA and the Elche business park.

El área metropolitana de Alicante-Elche cuenta con la presencia de destacadas instituciones académicas y centros de investigación:.

Universities

The University of Alicante, located in San Vicente del Raspeig, is a public institution recognized for its academic excellence. The university offers a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate programs in various fields. In addition, it has several research departments that address a wide range of scientific areas.[40]​.

The Miguel Hernández University, with campuses in Elche and San Juan de Alicante, is another public institution that stands out for its commitment to research. The university offers undergraduate and postgraduate programs in various fields and houses several research departments. Together with the University of Alicante, the Miguel Hernández University is a reference center in the scientific field in the metropolitan area.[41]​.

The CEU Cardenal Herrera University was the first private university to be located in the metropolitan area, with a campus in Elche, next to that of the UMH. This institution stands out for offering a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate programs in areas such as health, technology, business and communication.[42]​.

The European University of Valencia announced in May 2023 its new Alicante campus with an opening date in September 2023, thus being the fourth university to be present in the metropolitan area.[43]​.

Research centers

The Alicante Institute of Neurosciences (IN) is a joint center of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and the Miguel Hernández University of Elche located in San Juan de Alicante. This institute is one of the main neuroscience research centers in Spain and carries out cutting-edge research in areas such as neurobiology, neurogenetics and cognitive neurosciences.[44]​.

The Aging Research Center (ICAR), located in Elche, focuses on the study of aging and age-related diseases. Its research contributes to understanding the biological processes of aging and developing strategies to improve the quality of life of older people.[45]​.

The Santa Pola Marine Research Center (CIMAR), belonging to the University of Alicante, is dedicated to marine research and has a specialized library, research and teaching laboratories, among other facilities.[46]​.

Science parks

The Alicante Science Park is a space located in the campus area of ​​the University of Alicante. This park's main objective is to promote collaboration between companies, universities and research institutions to promote economic and technological growth in the region. It offers a wide variety of services and infrastructure to support companies and organizations that are established there, such as financing, training, talent management and communication services.[47]​.

The Miguel Hernández University Science Park is similar to the Alicante Science Park, but is affiliated with the Miguel Hernández University. It also aims to promote collaboration between companies, universities and research institutions to foster economic and technological growth in the region.[48]​.

EUIPO

The EUIPO, for its acronym in English, European Union Intellectual Property Office is the Euroagency that functions as the intellectual property office of the European Union[49]​ and around 1,100 Euroofficials[50][51]​ from all the countries of the European Union work there.

The EUIPO also hosts the European Observatory on Violations of Intellectual Property Rights. Entrusted to the EUIPO in June 2012, the observatory brings together public and private stakeholders fighting against piracy and counterfeiting.

Its headquarters are located in Alicante and consists of three office buildings spread over .[52]​.

Mediterranean House

Casa Mediterráneo (Alicante) is a Spanish public consortium promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation (MAEUEC) and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID).

Casa Mediterráneo is part of the Casa Network of public diplomacy in Spain, along with Casa de América, Casa Asia, Casa Arabe, Casa África and the Centro Sefarad-Israel.

Its objective[53]​ is to promote the implementation of common actions and projects to strengthen ties and promote collaboration with other societies in the Mediterranean basin.

Volvo Ocean Race

The Volvo Ocean Race[54]​ or also known as Around the World Sailing is a sailing regatta "Sailing (sport)") around the world. It was held for the first time in 1973 under the name Whitbread Round the World Race, organized by the Royal Naval Sailing Association (Naval Racing Commission of the Royal Navy) with the sponsorship of Whitbread.

It currently has its departure headquarters in Alicante for the last 5 editions and is also confirmed for the 2027 departure.[55]​ In the 2023 edition the Race Village at the departure port received more than, with a daily peak of 81,000 attendees, it is estimated that its impact was 71 million euros.[56]​.

The official museum of the competition is also permanently located in Alicante.[57]​.

City of Light

City of Light is a 360,000 m audiovisual complex, dedicated to the world of cinema. It consists of 6 large sets, as well as outdoor filming areas and water tanks. Movies such as The Impossible or Asterix and Obelix "Asterix at the Olympic Games (film)") have been filmed there, among others.

In 2023, its exploitation was awarded to MBS Group, an American multinational, which works for platforms or production companies such as Netflix, Disney, Warner, Paramount, HBO or Marvel.[58][59]​.

Alicante Film Festival

The Alicante Film Festival is a film festival that has been held since 2004 in the city of Alicante. It was created in order to support and disseminate cinematographic culture and its different variants such as the short and feature film sections.[60]​.

Wetlands

In the southern part of the metropolitan area is one of the most important sets of wetlands on the Iberian Peninsula: the remains of the old lagoon of Elche, which include the Hondo natural park, the Salinas de Santa Pola natural park and their territorial connections through the wetlands of Els Carrissars" and Hondo de Amorós"). This system is complemented by the Agua Amarga salt marsh and the Clot de Galvany.[61]​.

Saws

In addition to these wetland areas, the metropolitan environment of Alicante-Elche has other notable elements. Among them are the Santa Pola mountain range), the Elche and Tibi reservoirs, which constitute landscape landmarks, and the elevations of the Colmenares mountain ranges), Maigmó, Crevillente and Cabezón de Oro, among others.[62]​.

Green areas

The palm grove of Elche, declared a World Heritage Site, is the largest botanical palm orchard in Europe and one of the largest in the world. It is made up of 67 orchards that contain around 45,000 date palms and covers an area of ​​144 hectares.[63][64] Complementing the palm grove is the Huerto del Cura park. It is a garden, also located in Elche, famous for its palm trees and its great variety of botanical species.[65]​.

Tabarca Island

The island of Tabarca, belongs to the municipality of Alicante and is located off the coast of Santa Pola, it is the only inhabited island in the Valencian Community and was the first marine reserve established in Spain.[66]​ At very specific times throughout history, great white sharks have been sighted and even hunted in its surroundings.[67]​.

El área metropolitana Alicante-Elche se encuentra enclavada en la provincia de Alicante que es la cuarta más poblada de España con (2023),[68]​ siendo muy densamente poblada, con una distribución de los núcleos de población muy policéntrica. Esto hace que el área tenga interacciones o solapamientos con otras áreas, como la conurbación Elda-Petrel o las áreas urbanas de Benidorm y Torrevieja.

Así pues, la Unión Europea considera que las citadas áreas urbanas podrían conformar en el futuro un área aún mayor integrada.[69]​ De hecho, ESPON (Observatorio europeo para la cohesión y el desarrollo territorial) ya consideraba en 2007 que el área de Elda-Petrel formaba parte del área Alicante-Elche.[70]​.

Además también establece importantes sinergias económicas y laborales con el área metropolitana de Murcia, que se encuentra muy próxima y con la que comparte una red de ferrocarriles de Cercanías RENFE y otra de servicios de alta velocidad ferroviaria RENFE Avant, conformando un área de influencia conjunta aún mayor.

En el siguiente mapa que muestra las zonas urbanizadas en 2018, se pueden apreciar las sinergias que tiene el área metropolitana con estas otras áreas urbanas contiguas. Así como también, poner en contexto el papel tanto del área metropolitana de Alicante-Elche como de su área de influencia conjunta respecto a otras grandes áreas metropolitanas de España.

Alicante-Murcia Conurbation

Based on these interactions and according to some studies, the Alicante-Elche metropolitan area would in turn be integrated into a larger conurbation formed by the areas of Benidorm, Elche, Alicante, Murcia and Cartagena "Cartagena (Spain)").[72]​ This conurbation would have a population of about 2.4 million inhabitants in 2022.[73]​.

Every working day, they move between the provinces of Alicante and Murcia on a round trip.[74]​.

Unlike agglomerations where there is a strong centrality, this type of conurbations, such as the Alicante-Murcia axis, are characterized by their macrocephaly.[75]​.

Context

If we take into account that in Spain it is the autonomous communities that have the powers in the management of metropolitan areas[76]​ and what they establish, the first four (Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Valencia and Seville) exceed one and a half million inhabitants, while Alicante-Elche would be the seventh most populated.

If we take into account that in Spain it is the autonomous communities that have the powers in the management of metropolitan areas[76]​ and what they establish, the first four (Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Valencia and Seville) exceed one and a half million inhabitants, while Alicante-Elche would be the seventh most populated.

The following table shows the evolution of the Spanish metropolitan areas that occupy positions from 5th to 9th according to the definition of their autonomous communities. Alicante-Elche has gained in two decades, others like Bilbao or Asturias are losing inhabitants. This has allowed it to rise one position and gain weight in the context of Spanish metropolitan areas.

The metropolitan environment of Alicante-Elche has been characterized by strong demographic growth in recent decades, largely driven by the arrival of foreign immigration, whether for work or purely residential reasons. In fact, Alicante is the province of Spain with the highest percentage of foreign population, such that many of the municipalities in the metropolitan area have significant percentages of foreign population as can be seen in the following tables.

As of January 1, 2022, 19% of the population was foreign-born residing in the metropolitan area, of which 63,569 came from America, 54,876 were European and 34,242 were from the African continent. The main nationalities of the metropolitan area are also detailed below.

Rail connection with the airport

Currently, the Alicante-Elche airport is the largest peninsular airport in Europe without any type of rail connection.[81] The new terminal area (NAT) in service was built, leaving an underground space for the future station that is still unused.

There are several projects to make this connection, on the one hand there is the future Elche tram and there have also been proposals to take the Alicante Metropolitan TRAM there, although the most advanced proposal is to link the airport with the current line C1 "Line C-1 (Cercanías Murcia/Alicante)") of Cercanías RENFE that circulates just 600 m from the terminal.

This project is in the drafting phase and is part of the Torrellano variant, with a completion deadline of 2027.[82]​.

Alicante central station

This involves the construction of the central station of the Alicante Metropolitan TRAM in the same location as the current ADIF station, Alicante-Término, where the "Ferrocarriles de cercarias (España)") ​​and high-speed commuter trains operate, thus promoting mobility between the two existing metropolitan railway networks. Thus being able to transfer on the metropolitan railway from Murcia or Elche to Benidorm by simply getting off one train and getting on another.

In this way, there will be a direct connection between the lines:

• - Avant.

• - RENFE Cercanías:.

• - Metropolitan of Alicante:.

To build the station, the tunnel that connects the current Luceros station "Estación de Luceros (TRAM Alicante)"), which is now the head of these lines, with the new station, will have to be completed.

This new intermodal station "Estación Central Alicante (TRAM Alicante)"), which will be underground, will consist of an intermediate hall and a second underground floor where there will be 2 central platforms and 4 tracks, allowing quick transfers on the same platform and will increase the capacity of the network, allowing more frequencies.

The project is being tendered for 132 million euros and is expected to be ready in 2027.[83]​.

Elche tram

There is a project to implement the tram in Elche, linking the strategic points of its urban area in a first phase of 13.5 km and 20 stops, to later connect with the Alicante Metropolitan TRAM in a second phase "Line 7 (Alicante Metropolitan TRAM)").

This last project presented has a completion date of 2027.[84]​.

New PLD Space location

PLD Space, a company in the aerospace sector dedicated to the design and manufacture of reusable space rockets, is going to develop its expansion in a new location[85]​ next to IFA (Institución Ferial Alicantina) and the airport.

In this new location it intends to build a second warehouse for its production and to be able to attract both public and private clients who need to send satellites into space.

This project has been considered Territorial Strategic Project (PET) by the Generalitat Valenciana[86]​ which considers that it meets some of the essential objectives of the PATAE such as converting the metropolitan area of ​​Alicante and Elche into the great node of centrality of the southeast of the peninsula, creating a favorable territorial environment for innovation and improving the external and internal connectivities of the territory.[87]​.

Second runway of the airport

In 2023 and due to the increase in traffic at the airport, the debate on the construction of a second runway at the airport has been reopened. The Conference of Businessmen of the Valencian Community met with AENA to demand this infrastructure.[88]​.

According to the DORA (Airport Regulation Document), the airfield of the Alicante-Elche airport is the most saturated on the horizon of 2026,[89]​ which would justify this investment.

Line 6 of the Alicante Metropolitan TRAM

A new tram line that will connect Alicante with San Juan de Alicante and Muchamiel, ended its submission period in July 2023. This new branch will link these two towns to the metropolitan rail transport network. The new branch under study consists of 6 new stops and in this first phase it will only reach San Juan de Alicante.[90]​.

Water deficit and climate change

In 2016, it was calculated that the water demand of the province of Alicante amounts to about 1,300 hm, while the total available resources amount to 655 hm.[91]​ This fact means that the use of water resources depends on river transfers, construction of more desalination plants and volume of precipitation.

All this, together with urban expansion, accelerates the process of decreasing land dedicated to the primary sector in the metropolitan area. Affecting local economies dedicated to this sector. It also endangers the survival of the different natural landscapes in the area.[92]​.

Climate change is accelerating desertification, causing more flooding and changing the pattern of tourist demand towards months with milder temperatures, in addition to endangering the current sea level in coastal areas.[93]​.

Per capita income

Due to the productive fabric of the metropolitan area, with an industrial sector that is still very traditional and very focused on tourism, the services sector, construction and the real estate sector, there are some enclaves of the metropolitan area with a per capita income much lower than the national average.

While municipalities such as El Campello (), Muchamiel (), San Juan de Alicante () or Alicante () had a per capita income higher than the national average in 2019, others such as Hondón de los Frailes () or San Fulgencio "San Fulgencio (Alicante)") (), did not reach the average by much.[94]​.

Public investment deficit

The strong population growth has meant that public investments in the area have traditionally lagged far behind this growth.[95]​ This causes the metropolitan area to have a historic deficit in infrastructure and public services.[96]​ In fact, in 2023, the province of Alicante was once again at the bottom in Spain regarding investments per inhabitant.[97]​.

• - Annex: Metropolitan areas in Spain.

• - Demography of Spain.

• - Province of Alicante.

• - Alicante.

• - Elche.

• - Metropolitan area.

• - PATAE, PDF Document of the Territorial Action Plan for the Metropolitan Environment of Alicante and Elche.

• - Updated PAT DOCV.

• - Valencian Community territorial strategy 2010-2030: Alicante-Elche functional area.

Road infrastructure

It is currently served by several interurban and ring road highways, the most relevant of which are:

• - Alicante Ring Road: This is the main Alicante ring road that ends in Elche.

• - Second ring road of Alicante: It is a second ring road of Alicante, more orbital, which circles a good part of the metropolitan area.

• - Vía Parque Alicante-Elche: It is a direct urban road between Alicante and Elche, more permeable and that serves the industrial estates and scattered urban centers that are between both cities.

Buses

Although there are interurban lines that connect the areas of Alicante and Elche, both Alicante and Elche have their own network of urban and interurban buses:.

• - MIA - Alicante Intelligent Mobility:[17]​ It has 49 lines, including urban, metropolitan and night lines.[18]​.

• - Elche urban and peri-urban transport: It has 36 lines, including urban, peri-urban and night lines.

Railway

Regarding rail transport, it is served by:.

• - RENFE Commuter Network: This is a commuter train service that connects Alicante, Elche and in turn the universities of Alicante (San Vicente del Raspeig) and Elche with the entire Alicante-Murcia axis. It consists of 3 lines, two of which have a header in Alicante and one of them directly connects Elche with Alicante.

• - Alicante Metropolitan TRAM: It is the metropolitan railway service "Metro (transport system)") of Alicante, which combines light rail, train-tram and tram. It connects with its urban area and the entire northern part of the Costa Blanca up to Benidorm and Denia. It consists of 6 lines, 5 of which have their head office in Alicante. In 2022, more than 13 million travelers used this transportation network.[19]​.

• - Avant: Regional high-speed rail service, connecting the Alicante-Elche-Murcia axis with semi-direct and fast services with a frequency of 10 times a day in each direction.

There are two high-speed railway stations, one in Alicante (Alicante-Término) and another in Elche (Elche-High speed). Altogether, 88 long-distance or short-distance high-speed railway trains leave or arrive from the 2 stations per day.[20]​[21]​[22]​[23]​.

Airport

The Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández airport is the main transportation hub, being the fifth busiest airport in Spain and the first in the Valencian Community.[26]​.

It is currently traveled by more than 15 million passengers and serves more than 125 direct destinations.

It is also considered by the International Airport Council as the best airport in Europe in the category of airports through which between 15 and 25 million passengers pass through per year.[27]​.

Port

Passenger and vehicle ferries operate from the port of Alicante that connect the city with the ports of Algiers, Oran and Mostaganem,[28]​ all of them in Algeria. These lines transport about 150,000 passengers annually.[29]​.

There are also private catamaran lines that regularly connect the ports of Alicante and Santa Pola with the island of Tabarca, the only inhabited island in the Valencian Community, transporting up to 200,000 passengers annually.[30]​.

According to data from the Population and Housing Census "Census (statistics)") of the INE "National Institute of Statistics (Spain)"), dated 2021, 45.9% of the population of the metropolitan area worked in a municipality "Municipio (Spain)") other than their residence within the same province.[31]​.

This percentage is quite high, which denotes great labor mobility in the area. The municipalities that act as a dormitory city are more dependent and have higher percentages, while the two main municipalities, Alicante (30.5%) and Elche (39.2%), have the lowest percentages because it is the other municipalities that orbit around them.

From this census, by offering data broken down by size of the municipality, it is also clear that 7.5% of the employed residents of Alicante (8,946) worked in Elche, while 17.5% of the employed residents of Elche (15,033) commute daily to work in Alicante.[32]​.

Contenido

El eje Alicante-Elche es un importante nodo económico, industrial y logístico, albergando la sede de importantes empresas como TEMPE (INDITEX) o PLD Space, primera empresa española en construir cohetes espaciales.[34]​ Otras empresas como Banco Sabadell, Kelme o Panama Jack también tienen su sede en este eje.

Entre ambas ciudades se encuentra el Parque Empresarial de Elche, principal foco industrial de la provincia de Alicante e IFA (Institución Ferial Alicantina).

Por otra parte, en 2018 se fundó el distrito digital (Alicante) "Distrito Digital (Alicante)"), donde están instaladas 85 empresas del sector tecnológico.

En el área de Alicante tiene más peso el sector servicios mientras que en Elche el principal sector productivo es el industrial, principalmente el calzado que representa el 39 % del total de la producción nacional.[35]​.

En total, había 64 401 empresas instaladas en el área metropolitana en 2022. Esta cifra es superior a la de provincias enteras como Zaragoza (63 850) o Granada (62 568).[36]​.

Real estate sector

With Alicante being the third province in Spain in real estate transactions (57,946) in 2022 after Madrid (90,406) and Barcelona (70,721), the weight of the real estate sector in the metropolitan area is considerable.

During 2022, 18,834 transactions occurred, a figure, that of the metropolitan area, which is higher than 42 of the 50 provinces that make up Spain, including 6 autonomous communities.[37]​.

Tourism in the metropolitan environment is mainly based on residential and vacation tourism, both national and foreign, with important destinations for this type of tourism such as the coast of Elche, Alicante-Playa de San Juan "Playa de San Juan (Alicante)"), El Campello or Santa Pola-Gran Alacant.

In 2022, the metropolitan area was home to 16,141 regulated accommodation places that received 1,156,686 travelers and resulted in 2,948,145 overnight stays.[38]​.

In addition to vacation tourism, the port of Alicante is a base port[39]​ for cruise ships "Cruise (passenger ship)") and a regular stop for many lines from different shipping companies.

Business or conference tourism is concentrated mainly in the cities of Alicante and Elche and in the surroundings of IFA and the Elche business park.

El área metropolitana de Alicante-Elche cuenta con la presencia de destacadas instituciones académicas y centros de investigación:.

Universities

The University of Alicante, located in San Vicente del Raspeig, is a public institution recognized for its academic excellence. The university offers a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate programs in various fields. In addition, it has several research departments that address a wide range of scientific areas.[40]​.

The Miguel Hernández University, with campuses in Elche and San Juan de Alicante, is another public institution that stands out for its commitment to research. The university offers undergraduate and postgraduate programs in various fields and houses several research departments. Together with the University of Alicante, the Miguel Hernández University is a reference center in the scientific field in the metropolitan area.[41]​.

The CEU Cardenal Herrera University was the first private university to be located in the metropolitan area, with a campus in Elche, next to that of the UMH. This institution stands out for offering a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate programs in areas such as health, technology, business and communication.[42]​.

The European University of Valencia announced in May 2023 its new Alicante campus with an opening date in September 2023, thus being the fourth university to be present in the metropolitan area.[43]​.

Research centers

The Alicante Institute of Neurosciences (IN) is a joint center of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and the Miguel Hernández University of Elche located in San Juan de Alicante. This institute is one of the main neuroscience research centers in Spain and carries out cutting-edge research in areas such as neurobiology, neurogenetics and cognitive neurosciences.[44]​.

The Aging Research Center (ICAR), located in Elche, focuses on the study of aging and age-related diseases. Its research contributes to understanding the biological processes of aging and developing strategies to improve the quality of life of older people.[45]​.

The Santa Pola Marine Research Center (CIMAR), belonging to the University of Alicante, is dedicated to marine research and has a specialized library, research and teaching laboratories, among other facilities.[46]​.

Science parks

The Alicante Science Park is a space located in the campus area of ​​the University of Alicante. This park's main objective is to promote collaboration between companies, universities and research institutions to promote economic and technological growth in the region. It offers a wide variety of services and infrastructure to support companies and organizations that are established there, such as financing, training, talent management and communication services.[47]​.

The Miguel Hernández University Science Park is similar to the Alicante Science Park, but is affiliated with the Miguel Hernández University. It also aims to promote collaboration between companies, universities and research institutions to foster economic and technological growth in the region.[48]​.

EUIPO

The EUIPO, for its acronym in English, European Union Intellectual Property Office is the Euroagency that functions as the intellectual property office of the European Union[49]​ and around 1,100 Euroofficials[50][51]​ from all the countries of the European Union work there.

The EUIPO also hosts the European Observatory on Violations of Intellectual Property Rights. Entrusted to the EUIPO in June 2012, the observatory brings together public and private stakeholders fighting against piracy and counterfeiting.

Its headquarters are located in Alicante and consists of three office buildings spread over .[52]​.

Mediterranean House

Casa Mediterráneo (Alicante) is a Spanish public consortium promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation (MAEUEC) and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID).

Casa Mediterráneo is part of the Casa Network of public diplomacy in Spain, along with Casa de América, Casa Asia, Casa Arabe, Casa África and the Centro Sefarad-Israel.

Its objective[53]​ is to promote the implementation of common actions and projects to strengthen ties and promote collaboration with other societies in the Mediterranean basin.

Volvo Ocean Race

The Volvo Ocean Race[54]​ or also known as Around the World Sailing is a sailing regatta "Sailing (sport)") around the world. It was held for the first time in 1973 under the name Whitbread Round the World Race, organized by the Royal Naval Sailing Association (Naval Racing Commission of the Royal Navy) with the sponsorship of Whitbread.

It currently has its departure headquarters in Alicante for the last 5 editions and is also confirmed for the 2027 departure.[55]​ In the 2023 edition the Race Village at the departure port received more than, with a daily peak of 81,000 attendees, it is estimated that its impact was 71 million euros.[56]​.

The official museum of the competition is also permanently located in Alicante.[57]​.

City of Light

City of Light is a 360,000 m audiovisual complex, dedicated to the world of cinema. It consists of 6 large sets, as well as outdoor filming areas and water tanks. Movies such as The Impossible or Asterix and Obelix "Asterix at the Olympic Games (film)") have been filmed there, among others.

In 2023, its exploitation was awarded to MBS Group, an American multinational, which works for platforms or production companies such as Netflix, Disney, Warner, Paramount, HBO or Marvel.[58][59]​.

Alicante Film Festival

The Alicante Film Festival is a film festival that has been held since 2004 in the city of Alicante. It was created in order to support and disseminate cinematographic culture and its different variants such as the short and feature film sections.[60]​.

Wetlands

In the southern part of the metropolitan area is one of the most important sets of wetlands on the Iberian Peninsula: the remains of the old lagoon of Elche, which include the Hondo natural park, the Salinas de Santa Pola natural park and their territorial connections through the wetlands of Els Carrissars" and Hondo de Amorós"). This system is complemented by the Agua Amarga salt marsh and the Clot de Galvany.[61]​.

Saws

In addition to these wetland areas, the metropolitan environment of Alicante-Elche has other notable elements. Among them are the Santa Pola mountain range), the Elche and Tibi reservoirs, which constitute landscape landmarks, and the elevations of the Colmenares mountain ranges), Maigmó, Crevillente and Cabezón de Oro, among others.[62]​.

Green areas

The palm grove of Elche, declared a World Heritage Site, is the largest botanical palm orchard in Europe and one of the largest in the world. It is made up of 67 orchards that contain around 45,000 date palms and covers an area of ​​144 hectares.[63][64] Complementing the palm grove is the Huerto del Cura park. It is a garden, also located in Elche, famous for its palm trees and its great variety of botanical species.[65]​.

Tabarca Island

The island of Tabarca, belongs to the municipality of Alicante and is located off the coast of Santa Pola, it is the only inhabited island in the Valencian Community and was the first marine reserve established in Spain.[66]​ At very specific times throughout history, great white sharks have been sighted and even hunted in its surroundings.[67]​.

El área metropolitana Alicante-Elche se encuentra enclavada en la provincia de Alicante que es la cuarta más poblada de España con (2023),[68]​ siendo muy densamente poblada, con una distribución de los núcleos de población muy policéntrica. Esto hace que el área tenga interacciones o solapamientos con otras áreas, como la conurbación Elda-Petrel o las áreas urbanas de Benidorm y Torrevieja.

Así pues, la Unión Europea considera que las citadas áreas urbanas podrían conformar en el futuro un área aún mayor integrada.[69]​ De hecho, ESPON (Observatorio europeo para la cohesión y el desarrollo territorial) ya consideraba en 2007 que el área de Elda-Petrel formaba parte del área Alicante-Elche.[70]​.

Además también establece importantes sinergias económicas y laborales con el área metropolitana de Murcia, que se encuentra muy próxima y con la que comparte una red de ferrocarriles de Cercanías RENFE y otra de servicios de alta velocidad ferroviaria RENFE Avant, conformando un área de influencia conjunta aún mayor.

En el siguiente mapa que muestra las zonas urbanizadas en 2018, se pueden apreciar las sinergias que tiene el área metropolitana con estas otras áreas urbanas contiguas. Así como también, poner en contexto el papel tanto del área metropolitana de Alicante-Elche como de su área de influencia conjunta respecto a otras grandes áreas metropolitanas de España.

Alicante-Murcia Conurbation

Based on these interactions and according to some studies, the Alicante-Elche metropolitan area would in turn be integrated into a larger conurbation formed by the areas of Benidorm, Elche, Alicante, Murcia and Cartagena "Cartagena (Spain)").[72]​ This conurbation would have a population of about 2.4 million inhabitants in 2022.[73]​.

Every working day, they move between the provinces of Alicante and Murcia on a round trip.[74]​.

Unlike agglomerations where there is a strong centrality, this type of conurbations, such as the Alicante-Murcia axis, are characterized by their macrocephaly.[75]​.

Context

If we take into account that in Spain it is the autonomous communities that have the powers in the management of metropolitan areas[76]​ and what they establish, the first four (Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Valencia and Seville) exceed one and a half million inhabitants, while Alicante-Elche would be the seventh most populated.

If we take into account that in Spain it is the autonomous communities that have the powers in the management of metropolitan areas[76]​ and what they establish, the first four (Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Valencia and Seville) exceed one and a half million inhabitants, while Alicante-Elche would be the seventh most populated.

The following table shows the evolution of the Spanish metropolitan areas that occupy positions from 5th to 9th according to the definition of their autonomous communities. Alicante-Elche has gained in two decades, others like Bilbao or Asturias are losing inhabitants. This has allowed it to rise one position and gain weight in the context of Spanish metropolitan areas.

The metropolitan environment of Alicante-Elche has been characterized by strong demographic growth in recent decades, largely driven by the arrival of foreign immigration, whether for work or purely residential reasons. In fact, Alicante is the province of Spain with the highest percentage of foreign population, such that many of the municipalities in the metropolitan area have significant percentages of foreign population as can be seen in the following tables.

As of January 1, 2022, 19% of the population was foreign-born residing in the metropolitan area, of which 63,569 came from America, 54,876 were European and 34,242 were from the African continent. The main nationalities of the metropolitan area are also detailed below.

Rail connection with the airport

Currently, the Alicante-Elche airport is the largest peninsular airport in Europe without any type of rail connection.[81] The new terminal area (NAT) in service was built, leaving an underground space for the future station that is still unused.

There are several projects to make this connection, on the one hand there is the future Elche tram and there have also been proposals to take the Alicante Metropolitan TRAM there, although the most advanced proposal is to link the airport with the current line C1 "Line C-1 (Cercanías Murcia/Alicante)") of Cercanías RENFE that circulates just 600 m from the terminal.

This project is in the drafting phase and is part of the Torrellano variant, with a completion deadline of 2027.[82]​.

Alicante central station

This involves the construction of the central station of the Alicante Metropolitan TRAM in the same location as the current ADIF station, Alicante-Término, where the "Ferrocarriles de cercarias (España)") ​​and high-speed commuter trains operate, thus promoting mobility between the two existing metropolitan railway networks. Thus being able to transfer on the metropolitan railway from Murcia or Elche to Benidorm by simply getting off one train and getting on another.

In this way, there will be a direct connection between the lines:

• - Avant.

• - RENFE Cercanías:.

• - Metropolitan of Alicante:.

To build the station, the tunnel that connects the current Luceros station "Estación de Luceros (TRAM Alicante)"), which is now the head of these lines, with the new station, will have to be completed.

This new intermodal station "Estación Central Alicante (TRAM Alicante)"), which will be underground, will consist of an intermediate hall and a second underground floor where there will be 2 central platforms and 4 tracks, allowing quick transfers on the same platform and will increase the capacity of the network, allowing more frequencies.

The project is being tendered for 132 million euros and is expected to be ready in 2027.[83]​.

Elche tram

There is a project to implement the tram in Elche, linking the strategic points of its urban area in a first phase of 13.5 km and 20 stops, to later connect with the Alicante Metropolitan TRAM in a second phase "Line 7 (Alicante Metropolitan TRAM)").

This last project presented has a completion date of 2027.[84]​.

New PLD Space location

PLD Space, a company in the aerospace sector dedicated to the design and manufacture of reusable space rockets, is going to develop its expansion in a new location[85]​ next to IFA (Institución Ferial Alicantina) and the airport.

In this new location it intends to build a second warehouse for its production and to be able to attract both public and private clients who need to send satellites into space.

This project has been considered Territorial Strategic Project (PET) by the Generalitat Valenciana[86]​ which considers that it meets some of the essential objectives of the PATAE such as converting the metropolitan area of ​​Alicante and Elche into the great node of centrality of the southeast of the peninsula, creating a favorable territorial environment for innovation and improving the external and internal connectivities of the territory.[87]​.

Second runway of the airport

In 2023 and due to the increase in traffic at the airport, the debate on the construction of a second runway at the airport has been reopened. The Conference of Businessmen of the Valencian Community met with AENA to demand this infrastructure.[88]​.

According to the DORA (Airport Regulation Document), the airfield of the Alicante-Elche airport is the most saturated on the horizon of 2026,[89]​ which would justify this investment.

Line 6 of the Alicante Metropolitan TRAM

A new tram line that will connect Alicante with San Juan de Alicante and Muchamiel, ended its submission period in July 2023. This new branch will link these two towns to the metropolitan rail transport network. The new branch under study consists of 6 new stops and in this first phase it will only reach San Juan de Alicante.[90]​.

Water deficit and climate change

In 2016, it was calculated that the water demand of the province of Alicante amounts to about 1,300 hm, while the total available resources amount to 655 hm.[91]​ This fact means that the use of water resources depends on river transfers, construction of more desalination plants and volume of precipitation.

All this, together with urban expansion, accelerates the process of decreasing land dedicated to the primary sector in the metropolitan area. Affecting local economies dedicated to this sector. It also endangers the survival of the different natural landscapes in the area.[92]​.

Climate change is accelerating desertification, causing more flooding and changing the pattern of tourist demand towards months with milder temperatures, in addition to endangering the current sea level in coastal areas.[93]​.

Per capita income

Due to the productive fabric of the metropolitan area, with an industrial sector that is still very traditional and very focused on tourism, the services sector, construction and the real estate sector, there are some enclaves of the metropolitan area with a per capita income much lower than the national average.

While municipalities such as El Campello (), Muchamiel (), San Juan de Alicante () or Alicante () had a per capita income higher than the national average in 2019, others such as Hondón de los Frailes () or San Fulgencio "San Fulgencio (Alicante)") (), did not reach the average by much.[94]​.

Public investment deficit

The strong population growth has meant that public investments in the area have traditionally lagged far behind this growth.[95]​ This causes the metropolitan area to have a historic deficit in infrastructure and public services.[96]​ In fact, in 2023, the province of Alicante was once again at the bottom in Spain regarding investments per inhabitant.[97]​.

• - Annex: Metropolitan areas in Spain.

• - Demography of Spain.

• - Province of Alicante.

• - Alicante.

• - Elche.

• - Metropolitan area.

• - PATAE, PDF Document of the Territorial Action Plan for the Metropolitan Environment of Alicante and Elche.

• - Updated PAT DOCV.

• - Valencian Community territorial strategy 2010-2030: Alicante-Elche functional area.