Working on the Costa Blanca: Alicante, Benidorm and the coast

Costa Blanca is the name under which the province of Alicante markets its coastline; the provincial council's tourist board carries it in its title. It covers the stretch from Dénia and Jávea in the north through Calp, Benidorm and Alicante city to Torrevieja and Orihuela Costa in the south. If you are job hunting here, two things are worth knowing: how international this coast is, and how far its season stretches.

An international job market

On 1 January 2025, 24.5% of the residents of the province of Alicante held a foreign nationality – the highest share of the three provinces of the Valencia region. In 15 municipalities foreign nationals are the majority; all of them are in Alicante province, almost all in the Marina Alta, Marina Baixa and Vega Baja districts on the coast and just inland (Generalitat Valenciana statistics portal). Press reports based on INE data put Britons at the top of the list.

That does not mean every job can be done in English. Vokaro listings state whether Spanish is required, and roles that explicitly ask for German have their own page. For UK nationals there is a British Consulate in Alicante, open to the public by appointment only.

Tourism well into the winter

Alicante-Elche airport handled 19,950,394 passengers in 2025, according to the operator Aena – an all-time record. The season does not stop in autumn either: in December 2025 the Valencia region was Spain's third destination for international tourists after the Canary Islands and Catalonia, with 13.3% (INE, FRONTUR). Benidorm also recorded more campsite overnight stays than anywhere else in Spain in 2025 (INE).

Hotels, restaurants, bars and campsites hire accordingly, and not only for July and August. Where a job comes back at the same time every year, the fijo discontinuo is the contract the law intends; at the interview, ask whether the role is year-round or when your season ends.

Valencian – not the same everywhere

Spanish and Valencian are both official throughout the region. The Valencian language act (Ley 4/1983), however, divides municipalities into two areas: Alicante city and Altea, for example, are in the predominantly Valencian-speaking area, while Orihuela and Torrevieja in the south are in the predominantly Spanish-speaking one (articles 35 and 36). Spanish is enough for dealing with any authority. Whether an employer wants Valencian will be in the listing.

The offices in Alicante province

1. 01Padrón with the municipality of your address, not the nearest well-known resort: Orihuela Costa, for instance, belongs to the municipality of Orihuela.
2. 02Registration and NIE: EU citizens staying longer than three months register within those three months at the immigration office or a police station in the province of Alicante.
3. 03SIP card: the Valencia region's health card. You need to be on the padrón of a municipality in the region and be covered through social security; apply at a health centre or online with Cl@ve.
4. 04LABORA: the regional employment service, where you register as a job seeker. Unemployment benefit is paid by the national SEPE.

The hospitality collective agreement

Hotels and restaurants follow the hospitality collective agreement for the province of Alicante (code 03000425011982), published in the provincial gazette in October 2023; later additions such as new pay tables appear there too. It is a different agreement from the one in the province of Valencia, so moving from Valencia to Benidorm also means a different pay scale. The code lets you find it in the national REGCON register.