Benidorm recognises the Prado Museum with its international award on World Tourism Day

Prado Museum has received today the ‘City of Benidorm’ Tourism Award, which is presented annually by the Benidorm City Council on the occasion of World Tourism Day. The leading art gallery in Spain has received an award in the international category for being the greatest cultural attraction in our country and for its enormous projection within and outside our borders.

Likewise, the hotelier José María Caballé, founder of the Servigroup chain, has received the ‘Special Mention’ of these awards; the hotelier José Luis Yzuel, the businessman Miguel Ángel Sotillos and the company Bowling Benidorm have been recognised in the national, regional and local categories, respectively.

The day was chaired by the mayor Toni Pérez, and was attended, among others, by the regional deputies José Ramón González de Zárate and Mario Villar, the senator Agustín Almodóbar, as well as members of the local corporation, in addition to numerous representatives of the tourism sector.

The Prado Museum award was collected by its deputy director Marina Chinchilla, who pointed out that the museum “shares with Benidorm the commitment to quality” while thanking the visitors “because without those millions we would not be El Prado”.

El Prado is one of the most visited and outstanding art museums in the world and is considered the most important in European painting, representing in the eyes of the world the most significant of our culture and the most brilliant and enduring of our history. On its walls hang works by Velázquez, El Greco, Goya, Titian, Rubens, El Bosco, Murillo, Rafael, Zurbarán, Dürer and Van Dick, among many other greats of painting and the Arts. Created on November 19, 1819, as the Royal Museum of Paintings, it has attracted millions of national and international visitors to Spain since its foundation, being the main cultural attraction of the country. With more than 3.3 million visitors in 2023, 48% of visits are free, which also makes it the European museum with the most free hours.

In the national category, the ‘Ciudad de Benidorm’ award was received by the president of the Spanish hospitality association, José Luis Yzuel. This businessman began his involvement with the professional hospitality association world in 2001 by presiding over the Zaragoza Restaurant Association. He has been presiding over the Hospitality Association of Spain since 2017, in addition to being part of the CEOE Executive Committee and being vice president of the CEOE National Tourism Council and of Saborea España, with whose usual activity he continues.

After receiving the award, Yzuel said that the recognition “makes me especially happy because of the bittersweet moment I am going through” and “because I come from Benidorm, a city where I have been very happy.” The award winner said, “Benidorm has taught many people what tourism is, it is the envy of the world, as is the hospitality industry.”

The award in the regional category was received by businessman Miguel Ángel Sotillos. Born in Benidorm in 1970, four years before his family started the family business Fincas Arenas, which is also celebrating 50 years of operation, specialising in tourist accommodation and maintaining its recognised solvency over time. He joined the local association of Tourist Apartments, APTUR, under whose presidency he began its expansion in the regional sphere, integrating it, in turn, into the national FEVITUR. Currently, Sotillos is its president.

The winner thanked the award and had a memory “for my parents for teaching me to work in what I like and for all the travelling companions I have had”.

‘Ciudad de Benidorm’ award in the local category has gone to the Bowling Center Benidorm, coinciding also with its 50th anniversary. The company opened its doors in June 1974, on Avenida del Mediterráneo, being one of the first American bowling alleys in Spain. Pepita Escobedo has collected the award.

Finally, the Special Mention of the ‘Ciudad de Benidorm’ Tourism Awards has been given to the hotel entrepreneur José María Caballé, who started in the hotel business at just 18 years old at the Goya Hotel in Calella. He was the youngest hotel manager in Spain at 20 years old and arrived in Benidorm in 1969, turning the city into the epicentre of his activity and founding Servihotel, the embryo of the current Servigroup Hotels. The leading hotel chain in the Valencian Community with 18 establishments, more than 10,000 beds and 2,000 employees. It has also collaborated with grassroots sports for more than 40 years through sponsorships, reaching this year 15 teams and sports competitions wherever the chain has hotels.

Caballé, very grateful for the award, has reviewed his business career with some anecdotes from his professional life, as well as showing “the great satisfaction and pride that receiving this distinction brings”. Caballé has specified that his companies will reach 150 million in turnover this year, with more than 2.3 million stays, with 1,600 employees and thirty executives. “But our objective is not occupancy, but rather visitor satisfaction” he said before highlighting that Servigroup is “the only chain with all centralised services, which ensures the best service and quality”.

Mayor Toni Pérez closed the event and said that Benidorm is “a city that gets up every morning with the hope of making others happy because that is what tourism is.” The mayor praised the motto ‘Tourism and Peace’ chosen by the UNWTO this year and said that “it is very difficult for there to be tourism without peace.” However, he advocated that the UNWTO “play a key role in building more inclusive and open societies.”

Pérez recalled that a good part of the city’s success “lies in quality” and ended with a few words about José María Caballé, who he said deserves the award “for what he has done as a businessman, but also for his great social responsibility” with the sponsorship of numerous clubs and sports entities.

“He has a hotel in Manizales (Colombia) called 'Benidorm' and that already shows his love for our city” concluded the mayor.

SICTED Awards

As usual, during the World Tourism Day event, the SICTED awards were presented, which recognise the commitment to quality and continuous improvement and are promoted by the Secretary of State for Tourism. This year, eleven companies received the award for the first time and 73 renewed it. A year in which a new profession was incorporated, ‘Permanent scenic spaces’, with the company Benidorm Palace. A new municipal service was also incorporated, the archaeological site of Tossal de La Cala. Thus, of the 37 professions covered by SICTED, 18 are represented in Benidorm.