Benidorm Case Study

BENIDORM CASE STUDY

When it was discovered in the fairly early post war years, Benidorm was a small fishing village, with a relatively small population - whose main income was obtained through fishing the local coast -, on the Costa del Sol but quickly became Spain’s biggest holiday resort for people from foreign countries, and at its peak, it was attracting four million tourists each year.

It is part of the most southern reaches of Spain and faces the sun, the Mediterranean Sea and North Africa. In the 1950’s the area was important only for farming and fishing. Since then, both the landscape and the lives of the local people have been transformed by and according to, the demands of tourism. During the summer, it is more common to hear the people there speaking English rather than Spanish.

There are many reasons that it has become an important tourist resort, such as:

The climate – Summers are hot, sunny and dry. Although the winters are wet, it rarely rains all day and it is usually mild enough for people to sit outside;

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Landscape – there are multiple sandy beaches, which sit beside the warm, blue Mediterranean Sea. Originally, these beaches were natural, but as years of erosion have steadily made them smaller, new, artificial beaches have been introduced. However, as these beaches are unnatural they do not last as long and are constantly having to be replaced;

Location in relation to the rest of Europe – it is only a short 2-3 hour flight – depending on the conditions when you fly – to get to Benidorm from Britain, and less from countries which are further south.

Price – it is cheap ...

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Price – it is cheap to get there and to purchase items when you are. Indeed, it costs only as much as going to Blackpool.

Things to do – There are many activities available for the holiday makers and the majority of them are linked to the sea, if not directly, then indirectly e.g. water sports. There are also many golf courses and day trips can be arranged to some of the ‘real Spain’ villages and settlements within close range of the resort to allow tourists to get a sample of true Spanish ways of life, to give examples of non water related activities.

The local people tried to plan for the influx of tourists at the beginning but the tour operators needed large buildings close to the beach, and so, more and more high rise hotels were built in close proximity to each other practically over night.

With the demand for these hotels, the local farmers could sell their land to the hotel companies and tour operators at extremely high prices and become millionaires. Indeed, Benidorm has over one hundred millionaires currently residing locally. As the people began to get more money from there higher incomes, things began to become more expensive and people had to go into the tourist industry to make enough money to get by on. Over 10% of the GNP per capita in Spain comes from tourism.

Other jobs, such as farming and fishing became less important and less common. As there were now fewer jobs in the traditional areas, people were again forced to turn to tourism. Also, people would emigrate from the outlying farming communities looking for work and end up working in tourism – sometimes whole families – which would mean that there were still less jobs for the local people and that levels of unemployment would rise. At its peak, 35000 people worked in tourism in Benidorm alone.

There was a great influx of foreign peoples and the locals were continually being influenced by their ways and began to lose touch with their Spanish heritage. The traditional old-fashioned ways that they had of doing things began to die.

The numbers of people continued to rise and soon, there were too many and it became over crowded. With the increase in the number of people, also came an increase in the amount of crime – compounded by the large amount of alcohol that was available at very low prices –, and litter and sewage became rife.

Eventually, over 300,000,000 pounds was invested fixing the problems and trying to ensure that they did not happen again. This was spent on demolishing the old hotels, restaurants etc and replacing them with nice new ones. 20,000,000 pounds was spent separately on creating a new public park. Now, a further 700,000 pounds is invested into Benidorm each year, and because of the increase in investment, the prices have risen, which means that the problem groups can often no longer afford to go there, and that alcohol is now not as cheaply available which helps cut down on the crime.

Now, over 110 people are employed for the sole purpose of maintaining the beach, this has reduced the levels of unemployment and aids the re-establishment of both the communities economy and income, and its reputation as a good holiday resort.

Now, rather than being a resort for the all and sundry of Britain, Benidorm has become a resort that is used for family holidays and popular amongst families with young children and low budgets for the cost of their holidays.