Benidorm seeks new products to boost autumn occupancy

Benidorm's 'Fancy Dress Party', 'Pride', the Benidorm Fest, and the Cyclocross World Cup are just a few of the standout events that the Costa Blanca's tourist capital has implemented over the years to advance what the sector considers the holy grail of sustainability, in this case, economic sustainability: the reduction of seasonality.

Occupancy figures, which have only improved since the pandemic's dark days, have consistently proven the promoters of these initiatives right. As the city's mayor, Toni Pérez, often repeats, "In Benidorm, we no longer talk about a low season, but rather a 'nice' season."

Nonetheless, the main goal remains to further increase visitor numbers during the city's quieter months, particularly in the gap between October, after the Pilar holiday, and the Festes Majors Patronals, which precede the always successful Christmas campaign.

To achieve this, Pérez explained, the city will apply smart tourism technologies to boost occupancy and consolidate the reduction of seasonality. Specifically, the mayor stated, Benidorm will also use data analysis available through its Smart Office and its future BeCiTi tourism innovation hub, which will be located in the municipal centre El Torrejó.

Toni Pérez has estimated that this initiative could improve autumn occupancy by "a cushion of between 10% and 15%."

All of this, insists the mayor, is because Benidorm has set "the real peak activity season" until October 12th, and thanks to the work done based on smart tourism, after the major patronal festivals, they are "recovering tourists faster and faster. We anticipate their arrival for the Constitution holiday, during dates that previously saw much more fluctuation."

In this regard, the mayor argues that this reduction of seasonality is already "fully consolidated" in the last weeks of January and the first weeks of February, which historically was a very low season. "In Benidorm, January is now almost as strong as post-Easter or post-summer," he stated.

As mentioned, this January boom is mainly supported by recently created events like the Benidorm Fest and the Cyclocross World Cup. For this reason, the city is analysing what type of tourist product or event can act as a magnet for that other period yet to be exploited.

"We are looking for activities that can start over a weekend but work to extend from Wednesday or Thursday to Sunday or Monday, and which week is most suitable to offer it," insists the president of the Alicante Provincial Council.

Regarding the immediate future, the imminent summer season, Pérez has considered it will be "magnificent" not only in terms of occupancy but also "in the return that each tourist brings to the city."

This return is already being reflected in employment creation figures. In this regard, Pérez notes that "we won't have to wait until July and August to have an unemployment rate below 10%, because we have already achieved this since April, and we are the only city with more than 50,000 inhabitants in the entire region with these figures."