the background
Jávea is located in the north of the province of Alicante, on the easternmost point of the Mediterranean coast. The privileged geographic location of the bay, situated between the capes of San Antonio and La Nao, and one of the best climates in the world, are the main reasons why so many cultures have visited and stayed in Jávea since a long time ago.
greeks, arabs, christians.
If we were in Javea 2500 years ago we would see the Greeks trading with their ships, they brought us the wine, and the olive trees.
At the same time, the Iberians lived here, and from them is the famous Treasure of Jávea, a collection consisting of six gold pieces.
Centuries later, after the Iberians, the Romans arrived, to anchor on these coasts and to create an important naval base. Jávea was Roman for more than 800 years, as evidenced by the total of the 26 Roman sites found in the municipality.
In the 8th century the Arabs arrived and with them the exploitation of agriculture and the use of water. At this time we would begin to see small houses and farmhouses in the valley. The Islamic period not only leaves us archaeological remains, but also leaves us many words; for example the name of this town, Xàbia or Javea .
In 1244, Christians came to this area from the north. At the head of the army was Jaime I "the conqueror", a key figure in the history of this region.
After this complicated period, things got quieter, but not for so long. In the 16th and 17th centuries, pirates started to attack Jávea, so a wall was built around the town for protection. Pirates were so dangerous that nobody dared to live on the coast.
Fortunately nowadays pirates are not a threat anymore, so in the last century we have seen how new neighborhoods grew close to the coast. The first jetty was built in 1871 and it became an important gateway for the export of raisins. The raisin trade collapsed at the end of the 19th century, and the settlement became only a fishing harbour. The modern harbour was built in the 1950s and 1960s.
lasT 30 years
We have to keep in mind that tourism in Spain is the third major contributor to national economic life after the industrial and the business/banking sectors, contributing about 10–11% of Spanish economy. Ever since the 1960s and 1970s, the country has been a popular destination for summer holidays, especially with large numbers of tourists from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Benelux, among others. Accordingly, Spain's foreign tourist industry has grown into the second-biggest in the world.
In 2019, Spain was the second most visited country in the world, recording 83.7 million tourists which marked the seventh consecutive year of record-beating numbers.All these facts are important to know, so we can understand the evolution of Jávea.
Jávea has changed a lot in the last decades. In the 1960s, when Franco officials and rich tourists from Madrid and Valencia began summering in Javea, the city imposed building restrictions: nothing taller than a palm tree goes the local story, although a few buildings violate the rule. The population, which has more than tripled since the 1970s, has grown out rather than up.
In 1980s and 1990s a lot of foreigners started to come to Jávea. First as holidaymakers, but after many of them decided to live here. In these years British, French and Germans were the biggest part of the foreign community in Jávea. In the 2000s Jávea became even more international.
lasT 5 years
As of 1st January 2018, the population of Jávea was officially 27,224, of which nearly half (46.5%) were foreign residents. Although there are only about 27.000 censored people, Jávea increases it’s number of inhabitants with those of second residence, summer residents, visitors and tourists. Positive figures for the economic engine of Jávea and for which we work to maintain them, but always, taking care and respecting our area, our coastline and our places, which attract and monopolize in social networks and magazines.
Specifically, Jávea registers a growth of 331% in summer and passes from just over 27.000 inhabitants to a seasonal population of about 117.000, according to data from the Marina Alta Observatory. Also, the proportion of foreign buyers in Alicante’s province has doubled since 2009. Indeed, international home buyers, or foreigners, now represent close to 50% of real estate transactions. Therefore the proportion of foreign residents should not decrease any time soon.