| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 24/07/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 42 |
| Copyright: Other |
Benidorm by Matthew Hampton
Escaping travel snobs is a Costa conundrum
Resort challenges misconceptions
Not everybody is a travel snob these days. But in the age of increasingly cheap flights to exotic destinations, it seems most are.I once caught the end of a conversation in a hotel bar in the Middle East in which a middle-aged British woman said:”-and now that all those people who used to go to Benidorm are heading off to Thailand and the Caribbean, where can you go to avoid them? That’s how we ended up in Qatar-”
I deduced from this that if you want to avoid those dreadful travel snobs who get everywhere, you should go to Benidorm. So I did. And what a place it is.
Benidorm Tourist Board director María José Montiel said: “There are a lot of misconceptions about the resort. For a start there is no sea wall and the modern buildings are not connected – the urban plan of 1956 outlawed that – and the hotels are all separated from the beach by a promenade.”
Indeed they are – and a walk along the prom is a good way to get a feel for the resort. The two beaches – Levante and Poniente – are separated by the old town centre and are the pride of the tourist board. The region of Valencia, which boasts 90 European Union blue flags, ensures that all of its beaches are cleaned daily, have a children’s play area, a diving platform at sea and freshwater showers. Levante beach is most popular with the British crowd, and is a little more crowded than Poniente. UK tourists represented more than 50% of visitors last year and there is no evidence that interest is waning.
Cosmos head of beach products Owen Whitehead said: “Benidorm is one of the mainstays of our Costa Blanca market. Summer 2000 is doing very well. We’re happy with it – it’s a good winter performer too.”
Thanks to a unique micro-climate which comes from being surrounded by mountains, Benidorm is still an attractive option in the winter, particularly with the long-staying mature market, which may not appreciate the resorts’ wilder summer shenanigans.
Indeed, the Club 18-30 summer 2000 brochure describes Benidorm’s club and music scene as second only to Ibiza. While the compilation CD may not have hit the shops, there are eight clubs for the dance ’til dawn crowd. The night Iwas in town, Radio One DJJudge Jules was playing at the Ku Club, so the resort is clearly anything but passé. There is also plenty to attract the family market, not least the new Terra Mítica theme park (see story pages 44 and 45) which opens next month.
If the urban sprawl gets to be too much, then the water park, Aqualandia, and sea-life centre, Mundomar, are popular. Joint entry is around £13 for adults and £7.30 for children.
Of course, Benidorm is not to everybody’s taste -it’s a large, commercial resort after all. As Cresta brand manager Ian Lomas said:”We’re more interested in the traditional Spain, as opposed to the purpose built.
“We are looking at Valencia as a region, perhaps resorts such as Denia, nothing as commercial as Benidorm though.”
But the resort’s popularity continues and with 35,000 hotel beds and 20,000 apartment beds – more than all the resorts in Greece combined – dwindling numbers are clearly not a concern.
High living: all hotel properties are separated from the beach by a promenade
factfile
Benidorm: at a glance
What’s it like:the tourist board is keen to dispel some of the myths about Benidorm. The beachdoesn’t break ontoconcrete, and though thearchitecture is prettyunforgiving, the hotels are free standing (that is, not joined together), thus allowing views of the resort. Of the two long beaches, Levante and Poiniente, Levante is most popular with the Brits.
Sample product: Cosmos has a lead-in price of £269 for four adults sharing a two-bed self-catering apartment for Sept 27-Oct 31 departures.
The old town:a far cry from high-rise concrete