Benidorm opens its beaches on Monday with a Plan that guarantees safety, enjoyment and access for all users

Benidorm will open this Monday, June 15, its beaches. To this end, the City Council has adapted the comprehensive beach management contract and has drawn up, with Visit Benidorm, a specific plan that “guarantees the use of beaches to the entire population, residents and tourists, under certain health safety conditions ”. This is how the mayor, Toni Pérez, transferred it at the press conference to present this plan, called ‘Benidorm Beach Safety’; which is framed within ‘Benidorm DTI + Safe’. The mayor stressed that "it is a plan of maximums", of phased, versatile and modular implementation; in which different demand scenarios have been foreseen; and that it complies with all the regulations established at the state and regional level, such as the Generalitat's Safe Beaches Plan.

Toni Pérez has pointed out that the reopening of beaches and the implementation of this plan take place "in advance" of the arrival of all national tourism - set for June 22 - and international - depending on the country of origin tourism will begin to move from July 1, although in the case of the British people it will not do so until at least the 10th.

The mayor explained that this plan includes the implementation of "physical and technological measures, reserving a large section for the provision of human resources." For its application, the City Council, following a technical indication, has modified the beach management contract, incorporating these measures as "one more service" to be provided by the concessionaire, RA Benidorm.

The space on the sand of Levante and Poniente beaches have been divided into 20 sectors, 12 of which are freely accessible with 5,122 16-square-meter (4x4 meter) plots. Each plot may be occupied by 1 to 4 people, up to a maximum occupancy of 20,488 people. There are two types of free access sectors: for those over 70 years of age (green network) and for the rest of the population (blue network), although those over 70 years of age may go to these sectors if that is their will. The concessionaire, for its part, will have 8 sectors, in which it will install 5,578 hammocks, about 875 fewer than those contemplated in an ordinary situation. In this way, the maximum occupation of the beach will be 26,066 people, who will be able to use the corresponding access point of the 20 prepared, who will be attended by control personnel.

The mayor explained that “these physical measures of subdivision, areas and access control will be operational from this Monday; while the implementation of technological measures will be gradual and staggered, taking into account the influx of users ”. Among the technological measures is the creation of a pre-booking web platform, which "will be active in the coming days, before July 1" and which can also be accessed from the websites of the City Council and Visit Benidorm. Until then, access to beaches will be without an appointment and users will be attended by accommodation staff.

Toni Pérez has indicated that this web application and its operation will be reported shortly. An application that includes a scalable platform and a virtual queue management system; as well as six information points where possible incidents will be solved and face-to-face assistance will be provided to people who do not have the technological means to make their reservation.

In addition, "thanks to the beach wifi system and the implemented CRM solution, users will be informed about the rules of beaches use, thus reinforcing the posters installed at each beachfront access." This same system will also allow information and possible incidents to be communicated in real time.

The mayor has stressed that "the technological component" will allow to "order the beach and its use according to existing demand", ensuring "that everyone can enjoy it," modulating schedules if necessary. Thus, in general, “the beach will be open from 09:00 to 21:00”. In the days in which "peaks in demand" may occur, morning and afternoon shifts could be established - an option offered by the state legislation - even to double the capacity of a day.

In summary, he emphasized "we are talking about a demanding and avant-garde plan and management, at the height of the power of the destination, with an important technological weight, designed to guarantee safety beaches for users and that all of them can enjoy in the best conditions ”.

‘Benidorm DTI + Safe’

The beach plan presented today is integrated into ‘Benidorm DTI + Safe’, aimed at generating confidence among residents, visitors and tourists, pursuing health safety and helping to reactivate the local productive fabric, fundamentally linked to tourism. With safety as the cornerstone of all action, Benidorm DTI + Safe is structured into three interconnected lines of work: health monitoring, through Patti Recovery project; the commitment to quality, and COVID19 ON protocols; and the management of public spaces, which is where this Benidorm Beach Safety takes place. This denomination is oriented to recover the confidence of the international market, which is the most reluctant to travel at the moment.

Beach Contingency Plan

In the same plenary session, and also with the government vote and the abstention of the opposition groups, the Beach Contingency Plan was approved before Covid-19, a document required by the Valencian Generalitat and that the municipalities of Comunidad Valenciana must contribute within a maximum period of 6 months from the end of May. The mayor recalled that “as recognized by the Ministry itself, Benidorm is one of the only two municipalities in the Comunidad Valenciana that had an Emergency Plan for its beaches; plan that we now adapt to the new circumstances caused by the pandemic and that we approved, far ahead of the deadlines set by the regional administration ”.