6.1 million euros for Benidorm Vision 360

The mayor of Benidorm Toni Pérez has expressed his satisfaction with having obtained the financing for the Benidorm Visión 360 project. In the Christmas contact with the Media on December 21, Pérez insisted that "one of the keys to work" for his team was "Benidorm's ability to conjugate the verbs ask for and get, working with municipal technicians, business associations and the neighborhood council"; and on December 27, through its publication in the BOE, confirmation arrived that the project presented by Benidorm in the second call for Tourism Sustainability Plans in Destinations had been approved and had financing of 6,103,783 euros.

He recalled the process experienced in the first call for these Plans, "where Benidorm was suitable with an ambitious project valued at 8 million", but he received the communication of not having funds to address it. Working hard, he explained, and for the second call, the first Benidorm Visión 360 was adapted to all the requirements and to the planning already developed by the Benidorm City Council.

In this sense, Pérez recalled that the new proposal "is fundamentally aligned with the Roadmap that we have been carrying out since 2015." In it, the mayor highlighted, is the Safe Benidorm DTI+ Destination Sustainability Plan, now in execution; the DTI Master Plan, which marks the transformation strategy in DTI and its annual operational plan CHALLENGE 2021; the 2021 Strategic Tourism Plan, the Climate Change Adaptation Plan, the Destination Tourism Accessibility Plan or the Universal Accessibility Plan, among others.

Benidorm Visión 360, explained the mayor, "gives continuity to actions contemplated in our DTI procedure and methodology" and stressed the attention that is continuously paid to citizen participation in municipal developments and planning "that we intensified during the pandemic" with sessions of work and improvement groups with a firm commitment to advancing in the adaptation to climate neutrality of tourist activity.

The plan is, defined by Toni Pérez, "a very ambitious project in four main lines and fourteen actions to adapt the city to the most innovative and sustainable reality".

Thus, he explained, the lines of action are focused on the green and sustainable transition, the improvement of energy efficiency, the digital transition, and competitiveness. They contemplate environmental actions focused on the water footprint and the effectiveness of shades together with a greater number of park-and-ride parking spaces and recreational areas in the new El Moralet Park, "promoting green Benidorm".

Action will also be taken, he pointed out, in the renovation of the Levante catenary, between the avenues of l'Ametlla de Mar and Europa, with the implementation of electrical charging points in the area, as well as the implementation of infrastructures for the loan service of bicycles.

In digital transition, Benidorm Visión 360 contemplates a series of cutting-edge actions focused on environmental monitoring systems, communication and access to resources and services for residents and tourists, and management of tourist-cultural spaces and virtual assistance and augmented reality to apply in Historical Heritage.

Finally, in terms of competitiveness, the new proposal for Benidorm addresses the improvement of accessibility to information for groups with special needs in transport and museums, the landscape restoration of the pedestrian walkway on Benidorm's west beach, the burying of cables and embellishment of the traditional quarter and a technical management office for the sustainability plan that coordinates the set of actions.

For Toni Pérez, the Benidorm Visión 360 complex "is a well-planned project of actions that will transfer induced effects and transformative capacity seeking to generate new employment in the tourism sector and its environment."

Undoubtedly, he said, it will affect "improving public facilities, mobility, and accessibility to public places and facilities."

Now, Pérez concluded, "we are clear about the financing and we are beginning to draft the specifications to award the projects." “We are very satisfied with the work carried out, with the project presented and approved. It was not logical that Benidorm was not in these plans made for destinations like Benidorm”.