Tom Powell
SPAIN’S top package holiday destination Benidorm is bidding for Unesco world heritage status.
Known for its great-value cocktail of sun, sand and sangria, the city is now hoping to see its name up there alongside the Great Wall of China and Stonehenge.
Sociology professor Mario Gaviria, the force behind the application, argued Benidorm should be praised for being one of the few places where beach holidays are accessible for all.
“During the past 50 years, some 250 million visitors have enjoyed Benidorm. It’s a symbol of harmonious coexistence that happily brings together people of all nationalities and languages,” he said.
Spain already boasts more than 40 Unesco world heritage sites, including Granada’s Alhambra Palace and Donana national park in Huelva.
Benidorm officials said the mass-market resort was applying in order to reinvent its own image.
“It’s the most sustainable and best-designed city of the Mediterranean,” said mayor Agustín Navarro. “We want to protect all that we’ve achieved during the recent decades as well as give it dignity and value.”
The application could take up to six years before Benidorm is officially on the list.
Looking at that picture of Benidorm, and comparing it to say, The Alhambra, one can quickly see why the idea of making Benidorm a UNESCO world heritage site is totally bonkers!
I thought that nothing about Spain and the Spanish could surprise me anymore but – “it’s the most sustainable and best designed city of the Mediterranean” has to receive the ultimate accolade – the order of the Dog’s Bo’~#@^s for sheer b/s.
Does anyone on this forum remember the lovely little fishing village that Benidorm once was?