Benidorm presents to the Ministry a project to promote shopping tourism in several commercial areas

Benidorm City Council has presented to the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce "an innovative project to promote shopping tourism in commercial areas of the city and that, initially, it is proposed to limit to eight streets and avenues of the urban center, those that present a greater influx and traffic of people, and on the first line of the Levante and Poniente beaches ”, according to the mayor, Toni Pérez, announced today.
The mayor has reported that "with this project, called the Phygital program, the City Council participates in the call for aid launched by the Ministry for the development of plans and programs to improve commercial activity in areas with a large tourist influx." A call that is part of the State Recovery Plan and "in which we hope that the financing of this project will be included, which has been developed by the Engineering area, the Smart Office DTI and the Department of Commerce and whose conception is it has had the collaboration of the AICO and ABRECA-COBRECA associations ”.
"The main objective of this project is to boost the sales of local businesses and restaurants, working hand in hand with the establishments themselves to advance their digital transformation, providing them with the necessary tools and solutions", he specified. In this way, "while we attend to the needs of the establishments we are promoting the axes of Economic Sustainability, Innovation and Technology of our DTI + Seguro Master Plan".
According to the mayor, "this project covers an area of ​​influence in which more than 550 potential establishments are located, a very significant number." "We are talking - he added - of an extensive commercial area, which will function as an open commercial center."
For the development of Phygital, the installation of IOT Nodes Plug and Play devices is proposed through which messages will be sent to users, who will be taken to a platform in which establishments will promote their products. In addition to boosting sales and boosting visits, this system will make it possible to provide the tourist intelligence system with knowledge of the impact of the actions of municipal establishments and campaigns, and of new openings or closings of premises; or to know how the public interest evolves, thus improving the decision-making process.
Toni Pérez has stressed that "it is an ambitious project that, if the requested financing is obtained, could be implemented in a short space of time". The investment budget is 298,575 euros, of which the City Council would assume 33%.
All the final details of the Phygital program have been transferred today to the representatives of AICO and ABRECA-COBRECA through a telematic meeting in which, in addition to the editors of the project, the Councilor for Commerce, Lorenzo Martínez, and the manager of Visit Benidorm, Leire Bilbao.
The proposed commercial area includes Tomás Ortuño, Gerona, Esperanto, Gambo, Ruzafa and Apolo XI streets; Los Almendros and Martínez Alejos Avenues; Paseo de la Carretera street and the first line of the Levante and Poniente beaches.