The Forum raises the requirement of communicating environmental management to Tour Operators and source markets

The second roundtable discussion of the XX Benidorm International Tourism Forum focused on SDGs 6 (Water and Sanitation), explaining the moderator, Vicente Mayor, director of the Engineering Department of the Benidorm City Council that “we extended the concept to the water of the sea ​​to include beach management ”, thus focusing on this discussion table the main indicators on urban services and basic infrastructures of tourist destinations, referencing examples of initiatives in Benidorm that can clearly be extrapolated.

The debate panel was made up of the professor from the Polytechnic of Valencia, Víctor Yepes, an engineer doctor expert in the analysis of beach management, the vice president of Blue Flag, José Palacios, and the president of Hidraqua-Grupo Suez, Asunción Martínez.

Yepes has taken into consideration the general importance of beaches and their management in this pandemic, putting “the beaches of Benidorm” as an example of good management. He recalled the work carried out to assess "the significance of the square meter of beach" going back to a previous work that quantifies the impact of the square meter of beach in Benidorm "in more than 2,000 euros compared to the 700 € / m2 reported on average by the beaches of the Valencian Community ”, illustrating“ the importance of the beach resource ”, for which its management should be taken extreme, applauding the reaction of Benidorm and the tourist destinations“ to provide safe beaches ”this summer.

Asunción Martínez conveyed the importance of water management throughout the life value chain and specifically tourism, highlighting the transversality of SDG 6 and all that it implies. Martínez once again put on the table that "Benidorm is the city with the best known water yield" -95% -, "the result of a continuous plan of infrastructure renewal and advanced innovation and management measures". She insisted on the general need for purification, water reuse and planning of infrastructures such as Rincón de Loix floodplain.

José Palacios focused his intervention on the meaning of the blue flags as a synonym for quality, management and environmental sustainability, recalling that it is distinctive and is an ally of tourism and “only seeks to comply with European regulations on criteria of water quality, management of the coastline, security and emergency plans ”to“ contribute to continue building a world with a future ”.

The speakers insisted that despite the situation, the great challenge is not Covid but climate change and sustainability, opening to tomorrow's sessions that will address both issues.

The subsequent debate revolved around nuances and questions introduced by the moderator that affected the effectiveness of both supplies and management, highlighting that although water is a regional problem, tourism and tourists are interested in the answer and the local management, but always efficient of resources.

And in management, the table highlighted Benidorm's reaction to the beaches this summer, noting that "in record time a solution has been adopted that has solved a problem."

The speakers coincided in pointing out that "the management of European funds will be fundamental for the recovery of the sector" and in the need "to communicate well the achievements in the issuing markets" because all the initiatives that are developed comply, with European standards totally .

Asunción Martínez highlighted Hidraqua's initiative of the ‘City Sentinel’ epidemiological surveillance program that allows, by monitoring analytics and sectoralizing urban territory, to anticipate pandemic evolution while “providing peace of mind that the city is controlled”.

A last topic, on the questions of the telematic assistants to the XXFITB, has revolved around the competency management of the beaches; an issue that, Yepes stressed, "is not solved" and the town councils have had to address a new front that adds the integral management of the coast to the competences of the new municipalism, considering "the need for comprehensive management of the beaches through a administrative consortium ”.

The table concluded by pointing out the importance of thinking about the future by applying sustainability measures and the importance of developing the innovative public procurement facet to promote R & D & I.