Benidorm, the second best destination in the world to recover from the pandemic

The Report on Tourism Safety Product Strategies (Post-Pandemic Travel: Unlocking the Secrets to Review Recovery) carried out by YouTrust places Benidorm's strategy during the pandemic as the second most effective among the 81 analyzed international tourist destinations throughout the world. nature, where only a dozen were effective.

YouTrust captures 90% of the tourist reviews produced in the world daily and has as a source of data 97% of the OTAs and global opinion pages, as well as those of 92% of the hotels in the world, which are in your database.

Thus, from its study on the 81 most popular international destinations investigated, only ten destinations, the document indicates, demonstrated a remarkable recovery in the volume of opinions from multiple sources and accommodation providers. The ten destinations are, and in this order, Paris (France), Benidorm (Spain), Marseille (France), Maldives (islands, Indian Ocean), Lille (France), Paphos (Cyprus), Bern (Switzerland), Plovdiv ( Bulgaria), Amiens (France), Valletta (Malta).

From Benidorm, number 2 in the ranking and with 179,995 references before the pandemic and 183,591 after it, the report highlights that "its taking of measures was very proactive to guarantee health and safety, thereby gaining the trust of the travelers”. The report attributes the recovery of the Benidorm destination "to its reputation as a popular vacation spot and a focused approach to ensuring safety." In this sense, the mayor, Toni Pérez, recalled that "the top priority in the management of those days, since March 2020, was to guarantee the safety of neighbors, residents, and tourists, preserving the Benidorm brand", praising the initiative of the hotel plant that closed eight days before the government initiative.

The mayor of Benidorm has highlighted, in his success in managing the pandemic, "the importance of data analysis, active listening, the immediate response focused on physical, health and emotional safety, and the synergy of interests on the destination ” as recovery factors.

This report corroborates the effective management carried out by Benidorm since the first days of 2019 when active listening and the analysis of data from Tourist Intelligence were established, the mayor pointed out, "some monitoring indicators of the situation that allowed combining municipal strategies and of the tourism business sector setting objectives that were unanimously followed", which allowed, Pérez insisted, "an effective and model management, always scalable" that has been internationally recognized by tourists, "who trusted the Benidorm protocols" and by national and international organizations, "which did not represent a case of success in managing the pandemic."

Toni Pérez recalled the particular initiatives of Benidorm in conjunction with the Alliance of Tourist Municipalities of Sol y Playa, which were transferred to the National Tourism Council, the Government of the nation, and the King's Majesty.

The Benidorm DTI+Seguro Roadmap was among the success stories that the OECD presented at its meeting in Paris on November 20, 2020, as one of the four examples of successful management: Benidorm and the experiences of Finland, Switzerland, and New Zealand, or with the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI), Red DTI or Segittur; an initiative that also won the Tourism Innovation Award from the IUIT of the University of Alicante.

The TrustYou report notes that “as the travel industry gradually recovers, it is crucial that destinations prioritize health and safety, communicate effectively and offer unique experiences that resonate with travelers' desires for exploration and well-being. ”,
More than a month before the declaration of the State of Alarm, Pérez pointed out, "Benidorm began to analyze the risks that the analysis and interpretation of the available data suggested, analyzing the risks and preparing contingency and action measures and plans."

"We were very attentive -explained the mayor of Benidorm- to the situation to generate a security product and communicate it properly: Benidorm DTI+Seguro". “Prevent and minimize the impact of the pandemic, our greatest obsession; preserve the Benidorm brand, our main objective; prove to be a safe destination, our goal”. Even the 'Benidorm Island' proposal where Benidorm -the destination is the city, as the city is the destination- was formed as an island of security.

That, Pérez recalled, “was a crisis that, a priori, was negative for a high-density destination like Benidorm, but we turned it into a nationally and internationally recognized opportunity. The measures applied by Benidorm were scalable and marked as before and after”.

Benidorm worked to generate a health security product and regain the confidence of the international market, where security is the fundamental axis of all action. Benidorm DTI+Seguro is structured into three interconnected lines of work: health monitoring, through the Patti Recovery project; commitment to quality with the COVID-19 ON and Benidorm Beach Safety protocols; and management of public spaces.

In addition, municipal emergency aid, from those aimed at the school population such as labor and business fabrics of all kinds, care for health personnel, volunteering, and the Collective Aid Network contributed to this management success that is growing every day. acknowledgments.