The mayor discusses the progress of Benidorm in the application of 'smart' solutions that improve the quality of life

The mayor of Benidorm, Toni Perez, participated yesterday at a round table held in Dinapsis Operation & Lab on 'Smart Cities' and 'Smart Tourist Destinations', where addressed the possibilities that development and technological advances offer for improvement of the municipalities and of the citizenship. A round table, organized by Dinapsis and Alicante Plaza and framed in a day of debate on 'The Internet of Things' (IoT), inaugurated by the President of the Provincial Council of Alicante, César Sánchez.

In this round table also participated the councilor of Innovation of Alcoy, Manolo Gomicia; Josep Ivars, of the Institute of Tourist Investigations of the University of Alicante; Antonio Sánchez, head of Innovation at Hidraqua; and Andrea Manero, manager of Libelium company.

During his presentation, the mayor highlighted the effort made by Benidorm to achieve the challenge of becoming the first Smart Tourist Destination (DTI) certified in the world, thus becoming the benchmark for other municipalities or destinations that want to achieve this recognition. He also outlined the progress that Benidorm is making in the application of 'smart' solutions aimed at improving the quality of life of residents and tourists, and in which the City Council goes hand in hand with the Visit Benidorm Foundation.

Toni Pérez indicated that, unlike other municipalities, when it comes to dealing with digital traffic, Benidorm has designed a 'smart' project linked to "what we are leaders and very good at: tourism". Hence, in front of the concept 'Smart City', Benidorm claims that of 'Smart Destination'.

The mayor stressed that the recognition of Benidorm as DTI has been based on a project based on sustainability, accessibility, technology and innovation; and stressed that compared to other municipalities that still work "in the management of 'Big Data', we are already addressing the possibilities, potential and treatment of 'Smart Data'.

On the other hand, stressed that the city has for months a technical innovation and intelligence office linked to tourism in which "we are already sensing and monitoring data that allow to know the operation of the city." This is the case of water use and data treatment, a field in which "Benidorm is exemplary", having achieved very high rates of reuse. An exemplarity - he explained - that has also been achieved thanks to "the historical global consciousness of citizens in water management", a very precious resource in a deficit basin.

Despite already having many parameters monitored, Toni Pérez added that the goal is "to address the more aspects better to know how Benidorm develops" and "thus improve management and governance", which "should be an obligation of administrations to offer solutions to society and citizens that improve their quality of life "and a" better and more efficient management of resources ".

In this advance monitoring and sensorization the mayor referred to the project 'Benidorm, Smart and Sustainable Tourism Destination', promoted by the City Council, valued at 4 million euros and for which a grant of 2.4 million has been obtained through of the state program Red.es. This project has four axes: Smart Management, Smart Beaches, Sustainability and Energy Efficiency, and Tourist and Citizen Satisfaction. The mayor advanced that the development of this project "will allow us, for example, to know the degree of occupancy of the beaches at all times", information that will be available to residents and visitors to improve their experience and that will allow the city plan and organize better aspects such as the cleaning of the sandy areas.