Widespread protests across Spain find no support in Benidorm, says a tourism director there who welcomes all tourists, especially from the UK.
Benidorm is in the northern Costa Blanca region and has been welcoming tourists – largely from the UK – for decades. Famously, it was the setting for the critically acclaimed UK sitcom Benidorm that ran for ten seasons from February 2007 to May 2018 on ITV.
It is particularly beloved of British tourists and its appeal only seems to be rising. In 2019, pre-Covid, 788,845 holidaymakers headed for the city in eastern Spain, in the Valencia region. Last year, this figure was up 5.2 per cent to 832,115.
All are welcome in Benidorm
When asked what the local view towards British holidaymakers in the face of so many protests against them in other parts of Spain, Visit Benidorm director Leire Bilbao told Alice Scarsi of The Express, “We are happy for every tourist that chooses us.
“Imagine, they are saving money all year to invest in their holidays and they decide to choose us. Our fidelity rate is very high 73 percent of the tourists come back to us. That is a wonderful award for us.”
Pressed upon whether Benidorm is losing its cultural identity in the face of being overrun by the British, Bilbao dismissed this. She said that Benidorm has a special multicultural nature, saying, “We are not afraid of losing our identity and traditions remain – you can enjoy them or not – but we have plenty of activities all year round that continue taking place as always. We have been a tourism destination for decades, and nothing has changed in our popular and cultural traditions.”
Explaining one tradition “doesn t disappear after tourists bring us new options , Ms Bilbao said locals love celebrating the Day of the Netherlands or St Patrick s Day, and we have a poppy appeal in Benidorm every year.”
She pointed to the fact that the Valencian tradition of Fallas is celebrated alongside events such as St Patrick’s Day.
A tourist destination for a century
With regard to the claim that Benidorm has been a tourist destination for decades, its first recorded tourism influx was a century ago, in 1925. For a few decades, the incomers mainly came from other parts of Spain, such as Madrid. In 1952 when the fishing industry went into decline, Benidorm set about reinventing itself as a tourism-first In 1954 Pedro Zaragoza Orts, the then young Mayor of Benidorm, created the Plan General de Ordenación (city building plan) that ensured, via a complex construction formula, every building would have an area of leisure land, guaranteeing a future free of the excesses of cramped construction seen in other areas of Spain.
Many praise the international and tolerant attitude towards tourism that some argue makes Benidorm unique.
In April citizens of the Canary Isles took to the streets to protest against over-tourism. This was followed in May by similar protests in the Balearic Islands, especially Mallorca.
And last months, the popular movements led to a ban on Airbnbs and short-term holiday rentals, with protesters squirting tourists with water pistols.
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Eugene Costello has been a journalist and editor for almost 30 years and has worked at the London Evening Standard, the Mail on Sunday and Daily Mail. He has written for a wide number of publications such as The Guardian, The Times and Sunday Times in addition to the above, and numerous magazines. He moved to Spain in 2020 and has no intention of going back.
To each his or her own and I have nothing against the British, but Benidorm is probably the last place I would want to visit in Spain. I would say the same, if my American counterparts built out a pueblo here that catered mostly to Americans it would be the new last place I would ever want to visit in Spain.
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