Pérez highlights that Benidorm “always works as hard as possible” to protect its biodiversity

The mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, highlighted today that Benidorm “works as hard as possible to protect its biodiversity” within the city's determined commitment to sustainability. The mayor made this statement during the closing of the 'Smart Tourism and Data Forum', keys to Sustainability' celebrated today in Benidorm.

The Forum, which was attended by managers, destinations, and representatives of the national and international tourism sector, was organized by Segittur and the European Commission within the framework of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. In it, new tools for the use and management of data and how they can influence the achievement of more sustainable destinations have been addressed.

In addition, different aspects related to tourism intelligence, data spaces, and sustainability have been analyzed, to address the importance of data-based decision-making and other key aspects to improve tourism competitiveness in both the public and private sectors.

In the morning the mayor defended that good data management is “vital” to differentiate and advance, in the afternoon he highlighted the sustainability of the Benidorm model. "Although many people do not know it, we have protected coves, a terrestrial maritime park and we always follow the dynamics of the coastline to the point that our beaches grow because we have a large sand bank that, by the way, has served to regenerate some beaches of the Mediterranean coast” he explained.

Pérez, in another clear example of the sustainability of the model, revealed to attendees that “thirteen Benidorms would free the entire Mediterranean from construction.” “That is sustainability,” he added. Furthermore, he pointed out that the city looks to the future and that for this reason "our knowledge is supported by the academy." “We are the only city with more than 50,000 inhabitants that has a Climate Change Adaptation Plan,” he added before specifying that “we do a compelling choral work to be able to say that we make millions of people happy every year while at the same time, we bet for sustainability.”

The deputy director general of Tourism Cooperation and Competitiveness of the State Secretariat for Tourism, Félix de Paz, also spoke at the closing of the Forum, and wanted to make it clear that “all doubts have been dispelled regarding the fact that tourism is doing things for sustainability.”

He also highlighted some ideas expressed in the Forum such as that “data management translates into an improvement in the planning of basic services in cities” or “the importance of analyzing data to obtain metrics that enable healthy competition.” ”Finally, de Paz stressed that “all new data sources can be useful for tourism sustainability. Still, we must know what we want and how to use them.”