Benidorm Island proposes a safe health corridor for British tourism for this autumn

A Hospitality Team to monitor the health incidence of tourists up to 14 days later is the key.

Benidorm has presented this morning its Benidorm Island proposal, aligned with the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda, to offer a safe tourist destination that behaves like an island of safe tourism in order to regain its position in the British market.

To explain the project, the Mayor Toni Pérez stated that its aspiration is to "offer the same old Benidorm" to "resume tourist activity" with a series of highly tested security measures that have been implemented in the spirit of " the permanent aspiration to offer happiness ”that configures the tourist DNA of Benidorm.

Pérez stressed that "a destination like Benidorm cannot stand still" and before a window of possible activity "Benidorm is preparing with the best roadmap to materialize a choral project" in which Benidorm City Council itself, Visit Benidorm, Hosbec intervene , Turisme de la Generalitat, the Costa Blanca Tourist Board, Alicante-Elche Airport and tour operators, as well as hospitals and complementary offer. "Benidorm Island is already a real proposal," said the mayor.

The proposal, explained Mayor Toni Pérez, "is replicable and adaptable for the Costa Blanca and for issuing markets present in the Alicante-Elche Airport hub, and can be replicated and adapted for the rest of the Valencian Community".

The details of the initiative are available on Visit Benidorm website through www.benidormisland.com and, as explained by the manager Leire Bilbao, Benidorm's proposal is to "propose a safe destination in bubble format and extraordinary measures" that can be summed up, she stressed, in "exchanging test for quarantine in the only 'island' that operates for the British market during the winter in peninsular territory". That "insularity" condition, Bilbao insisted, "is what really defines the behavior of British tourists on vacation in Benidorm."

Benidorm Island requires, she pointed out, applying antigen tests and the possibility of PCR screening both on arrival at the destination and prior to departure, hotels and complementary offer committed to the project, hospitals and personnel such as those available to Benidorm, the operation of the airport, the existence of tour operators committed to the project, monitoring apps and the involvement of Hosbec Salud and Visit Benidorm, together with the availability of the existing refuge hotel and, as key to the project - Bilbao explained - “the Hospitality Team, a team to monitor tourists during their stay in Benidorm and a period of 14 days after their return to the United Kingdom ”. "An extra hospitality", summed up the mayor, after noting that "we are working on the insurance policy."

Nuria Montes, Secretary General of Hosbec, stressed that "it is intended to generate confidence both in the destination and in the work carried out" and that in the project phases developed this initiative has already been transferred to the Secretary of State for Tourism, to the embassies and to tour operators, under the premise that this pandemic situation "is a risk associated with people and not places", and that good proof of this "is the experience accumulated in the last six months" evidenced "in the solvency of the management that Benidorm has developed ”. Montes explained that it is a project specifically designed so that the authorities of Spain and the United Kingdom grant us the exception and Benidorm can continue to operate with professionalism, safety and guarantees ”.

The president of the Provincial Council, Carlos Mazón, congratulated the initiative and highlighted it "the fusion of objectives, interests and responsibilities to offer a product with a well-locked security", describing Benidorm as an "icebreaker ship for safe corridors". Mazón asked the Government of Spain “to attend to the Benidorm proposal; that there are more ‘islands’ ”; and the British Government, "to listen to British residents and tourists" who wish to travel to Benidorm "with safe reception power".

The Regional Secretary for Tourism, Francesc Colomer, after highlighting the support of the Generalitat pointed out that Benidorm Island "reinforces the idea of ​​unity between administrations", noting that Benidorm's commitment "bursts in like a pole star that sets the course for everyone", noting that with this initiative "we have set foot and a half in tomorrow to regain the favor of tourism." Colomer considered that this is "a very well developed project" and that as we have to live with the virus until the arrival of the vaccine, "Benidorm has internalized it very well and continues to build a prestigious tourist brand and line." As a final reflection, Colomer pointed out that with Benidorm Island "Benidorm dismantles the wall" of quarantine "to build the bridge to destination with those same stones."

The mayor Toni Pérez pointed out as a culmination that "Benidorm Island also contemplates weekly tests for labor personnel and public workers linked to tourism to ensure the best health conditions" and that Benidorm has the utmost confidence in the project presented today.