Benidorm improves the accessible beach areas with the addition of three amphibious chairs

Benidorm City Council has improved the accessible beach points in the city with the acquisition of three new amphibious chairs for users. The new chairs have entailed an investment of 18,165 euros and a grant has been requested from the Ministry of Social Services, Equality and Housing to finance them.

The City Council has been improving this service over the years, increasing the number of amphibious chairs, support and rescue personnel, equipment, etc. “and it is our commitment to continue working for accessibility and the elimination of architectural barriers on our beaches.” This is what the city mayor, Toni Pérez, said during today's visit to the accessible beach point in Elche Park, where the new elements were presented.

Thus, the improvement in question has consisted of the incorporation of two amphibious chairs for adults with a load capacity of 125 kilos and an XXL amphibious chair with a load capacity of 220 kilos. Each of the accessible beach points will have one of the new chairs, although the XXL model will be located at La Cala Point.

The accessible beach points in Benidorm have wide opening hours in summer, from 9.30 to 18.30 from June 1 to September 30, while in the winter period, the opening hours are from 10 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. the rest of the year, except from January 15 to February 14, when they remain closed.

Each point has elements that facilitate adapted bathing and staying in the corresponding facilities. Thus, at each point, there is an access ramp, a walkway that connects with the access ramp to the sea, an adapted changing room and an adapted toilet, three amphibious chairs, three sets of amphibious crutches of different sizes, three lifeguards as support staff for bathing and buoys that delimit the bathing area.

Toni Pérez has indicated that accessible tourism “is not only the elimination of physical, sensory or communication barriers but also aims to ensure that tourist environments, products and services can be enjoyed on equal terms by any person with or without disabilities”. In this regard, the mayor has highlighted “the effort that we have been making for years to achieve this, which has materialised in numerous investments and actions in favour of accessibility”.

Pérez also insisted that “from the City Council and the concessionaire company we maintain permanent contact with the users of the accessible beaches to collect their suggestions to improve further the service, which has a very high rating from the people and families who use it, especially about the attention they receive from the staff at the three points”.

Users in summer

The satisfaction of the users of this service is reflected in the constant increase in the number of people who use it. If in June, July and August of last year, the number of users was 7,128 bathers, in the same months of this year the figure has risen to 8,684 users. More than 1,500 more swimmers.

Thus, in June there were 2,840 users, in July 3,216 and in August 2,628. By accessible beach points, La Cala registered 958 users in the three months, Levante reached 2,544 and Elche Park obtained the highest figures with a total of 5,182 people.