Today, Benidorm is a thriving, bustling tourist destination. Indeed, the sheer amount of tourists every year make it the 3rd busiest destination in Europe. The only two which have more traffic are London and Paris. Benidorm holidays are noted for providing incredible beaches, thriving nightlife and towering hotels, nonetheless it wasn’t always this way.
Until Pedro Zaragoza Orts, the protagonist of our tale, came along, Benidorm was a small, coastal fishing village. It’d an excellent climate and magnificent mountains, but seemed destined to stay beautiful yet unknown.
In 1950, Zaragoza was appointed mayor. Recognising the potential of the place, and knowing what developments have been occurring in northern Europe, he start turning it in to a tourist hotspot.
He started by arranging for water to be pumped to the village from ten miles away, ensuring a big enough supply for his vision. The next thing was to have in touch with major airlines in northern Europe and start encouraging the break makers. The slogan “sun and beach” was sent, and planeloads of British tourists begun to arrive. Cheap holidays to Benidorm were the most recent tourist magnet, it seemed.
As more and more tourists flooded in, they brought together something that had become normal and commonplace in northern Europe, but in Franco’s Spain caused uproar and went against the original Catholic values that have been being enforced. The bikini hit Spain, but wearing it was forbidden. In 1953 though, Zaragoza allowed bikinis to be worn in Benidorm, saying that “you couldn’t stop it.”
The backlash was amazing. Members of the Civil Guard grappled with women in bikinis, escorting them from beaches and public areas, and Zaragoza was threatened with excommunication by the local archbishop. Until one morning, at 6AM, Zaragoza set off on his Vespa, making the eight hour trip to Madrid to ask Franco to provide his permission for bikinis to be worn in Benidorm.
“I changed my shirt,” he says, “but I went into the General with my trousers spattered with motor oil… He backed me, and the bikini stayed.”
But more liberal fashion policies aren’t the only reason behind Benidorm’s success. In 1954, Zaragoza created and enforced the’Plan de General de Ordenación ‘, which ensured every building site would have a place of land that wouldn’t be employed for construction, but should be maintained as a somewhat plant-filled area, purely for leisure. This meant that Benidorm avoided going the way in which of other cities and being entirely swallowed by grey skyscrapers, and could maintain its lush, green appearance.
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