Benidorm presents a pioneering plan for accessible tourist transport to consolidate as a 100% inclusive destination

Today, Benidorm City Council has presented a pioneering plan for accessible tourist transport to continue improving in this area and consolidate itself as a 100% inclusive tourist destination. The presentation of this plan, of which the first touches were already given in the last edition of the International Tourism Fair, Fitur 2024, took place in the municipal Assembly Hall, in an event in which a hundred public and private tourist establishments in the city for the work carried out to improve the accessibility of their facilities and services.

The mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, has participated in the presentation of this document along with numerous members of the municipal Corporation; the president of Impulsa Igualdad in the Valencian Community and Defender of People with Disabilities of the Valencia City Council; and representatives of the Impulsa Igualdad platform, as well as local companies and entities related to tourism and care for people with physical, sensory and intellectual diversity.

The Benidorm Accessible Tourist Transport Plan has been prepared in collaboration with Impulsa Igualdad, the representative platform of the disability sector in our country and which in the last edition of Fitur already recognized Benidorm as the most inclusive national destination in the first edition of the 'Fitur 4all Awards', an award created to recognize the efforts of destinations, companies and institutions in the development and promotion of accessibility in the tourism sector.

During his speech, Toni Pérez applauded “the people, the hours of work, the business and work commitment, the public and private effort behind” the recognitions that were granted during the event and thanked Impulsa Igualdad for “the help and commitment to this city and for helping us make it more and more accessible.”

The first mayor recalled that "the DTI is that inspiration that has made Benidorm an even greater reference than it was in some aspects, including accessibility." In this sense, Pérez has indicated that in Spain there are 4.3 million people with disabilities recognized, 325,000 in the Valencian Community and just over 75,000 in the province of Alicante, to whom "we try to adapt our city to improve their tourist experience or their daily lives.”

“There are still those who wonder what the DTI is for and there are also others who talk about how we do a lot of work and spend money on unnecessary work,” Pérez lamented to defend some of the urban actions carried out. Benidorm City Council in recent years to improve accessibility, such as ramps in the main tourist enclaves, single platform roads or lowered sidewalks in all neighbourhoods, the elimination of part of the balustrade to replace it with glass windows in El Castell or Tossal de La Cala or the development of braille maps or audio guides to adapt tourist services to all people, regardless of their abilities.

Finally, the mayor thanked all the people involved in the Universal Accessibility area of the City Council, as well as in the private sector, for their efforts, and announced that “we are going to promote a review of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan and develop new actions to continue putting people at the centre of everything.”

For her part, the president of Impulsa Igualdad in the Valencian Community has highlighted that the group of people with disabilities is a very active group, who "very much likes to travel and live their daily lives very intensely" and who, in addition, represent “a very faithful tourism” with those destinations where it hardly encounters barriers. Teresa Navarro recalled her particular case to explain that twenty years ago she was the victim of an accident and suffered a spinal cord injury and that she came to think that she would never be able to travel again. “Fortunately we have improved a lot in all these years and I can say that Benidorm is a national and international benchmark in accessible tourism.”

Navarro thanked the work carried out in the city in favour of “accessibility and making a more equal world” and claimed the “right of people with disabilities to enjoy leisure and tourism like anyone else.”

For her part, the Accessible Tourism, Universal Accessibility and Inclusive Culture technician of Impulsa Igualdad, Luz Marina Gil, explained that to prepare the Development Plan for Benidorm's Accessible Tourist Transport, the complete chain of accessibility has been studied; that is, the relationship between the different stages that make up the trip from its beginning, with the search for truthful information about the destination and its tourist characteristics, until arrival, roaming within the destination, enjoyment and, finally, return to the habitual residence.

And, in addition, other documents or previous work already carried out by the City Council have been taken into account, such as the projects developed within the framework of the EDUSI and others such as the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (PMUS), the Universal Accessibility Plan, the Strategic Tourism Plan 2018-2021 or the Benidorm Accessible Tourism Plan, within which the latter is part.

Acknowledgements

During this event, the 'Tur4All' badges were awarded to 62 hotels and 38 other entities related to leisure, restaurants, theme parks or public services for their promotion of universal accessibility.

Among the winners are Benidorm City Council; the municipal beach libraries of Levante, Poniente and La Cala; the House Museum of l´Hort de Colón; Benidorm Cultural Center; the Tourist Bus; the Municipal Market; Mirador de El Castell; Boca del Calvari Museum; the parks of Elche, Foietes and l'Aigüera; the Municipal Library; the beaches of Levante and Poniente; the route to Punta del Cavall and Torre Morales; the Cruz de Benidorm and Serra Gelada route; Tossal de La Cala archaeological site; the public toilets of Benidorm; and Rincón de Loix Tourist Office and the SATE.