'Verde Benidorm', the proposal with which the city opts for 7.5 million euros of Next Generation funds

Benidorm City Council attends the extraordinary 2023 call for Tourism Sustainability Plans to obtain 7.5 million euros of Next Generation funds, as reported today by the mayor, Toni Pérez. The municipal proposal is the Sustainability Plan 'Verde Benidorm 2024-2026' which includes 16 actions, encompassed in the four axes established by the call: Green and Sustainable Transition, Energy Efficiency, Digital Transition, and Competitiveness.

Toni Pérez has pointed out that "since 2015, we have coined as a hallmark of the Benidorm City Council to attend as many calls as there were to access funds that would allow us to be a lever for policies that we had very defined" and that was marked in the approved Strategic Plan that same year.
Since then, he has specified, "we have conjugated the verb 'ask' to 'get' and we are seeing results such as the EDUSI, the projects co-financed by the IDAE, the Low Emissions project or the two Tourism Sustainability Plans 'Benidorm DTI + Seguro ' and 'Benidorm Visión 360'”, which are the result of “this fundraising policy from other administrations”, where Benidorm participates “always in competitive competition”, mainly measuring itself against other Town Halls with “very elaborate projects”.

Following this strategy, the City Council, after the agreement of the Local Government Board, has already presented its 'Verde Benidorm' to the new call for Tourism Sustainability Plans, with 16 projects that "are not chosen at random" but rather "are aligned with the DTI, with the 2030 Agenda, with the Sustainable Development Goals and with the different sectoral plans that we have approved and initiated throughout this legislature such as the Climate Change Adaptation Plan or MOVELE”.

These are 16 actions for an even more sustainable and digital Benidorm, which advances in energy efficiency and against climate change and continues to bet on the protection of the territory. “We will only be the best destination to come if we are the best city to live in”, he stressed.

At a press conference, Toni Pérez announced one by one the 16 actions contemplated in 'Verde Benidorm', amounting to 7,498,550 euros, for which it is expected to obtain "100% financing from Next Generation funds" and if the proposal is selected, "they must be implemented in the period 2024-2026".

The mayor stressed that "some of these projects are a continuation of actions already underway or whose first phase is already part of 'Benidorm Vision 360º', or are the first stone for the development of sectoral plans"; and he stressed that "obtaining the funds from this new Tourism Sustainability Plan would speed up their implementation and development" of the same.

Actions proposed in 'Verde Benidorm'

The 'Verde Benidorm' proposal has been prepared by municipal technicians and with the support of strategic partners such as Visit Benidorm or Tourist Intelligence with the objectives of promoting the environmental aspect to diversify the tourist market, face the effects of climate change, structure the territory, improve quality of life standards, recover public space and make it available to people and gain day by day in economic, environmental and social sustainability.

The call establishes the percentage investment that each of the axes must have.

Thus, in Axis 1 of the Green and Sustainable Transition, two projects are proposed for a total amount of 1,276,300 euros: the development of management actions for public use in the natural space of the Moralet park -618,150 euros- and the protection of the beach against climate change with a vegetated dune -658,150 euros-.

Axis 2 is the second largest, with an investment of 2,624,450 euros, and provides for three actions: development of the Benidorm Electric Mobility Plan (MOVELE) -with 818,150 euros-, implementation of a photovoltaic installation in dissuasive parking -868,150 euros -, and rehabilitation of ornamental lighting of the 'Andrea' columns in the Paseo de Levante -938,150 euros-.

Axis 3, the one dedicated to Digital Transition, proposes an investment of 752,600 euros for four projects: a digital traveler's notebook and augmented immersive reality technologies in the tourist office, taking 'Benidorm Land' one step further -818,150 euros-; digital twin DTI for the calculation of the floating population -178,150 euros-; platforms for emergency management and communication -318,150 euros-; and intelligence system environmental parameters destination hotel sector -158,150 euros-.

Finally, Axis 4 is the one that collects the greatest investment, 2,845,200 euros. This section has included the rehabilitation of the tourist offices in the El Torrejó municipal center -468,150 euros-; the construction of a camping and multi-adventure area in the Parque de la Séquia Mare -1,018,150 euros-; the creation of a new tourism offer 'care lab' -348,150 euros-; certification and training in sustainability -54,450 euros-; technical management office of the plan -300,000 euros-; improvement of the quality of the destination through the SDG advance operational plan -118,150 euros-; and park-and-ride parking spaces and reorganization of the traffic -538,150 euros-.