Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.....

....Sometimes the actions of Spanish Councils amaze the most cynical ex-pat. These are recessionary days when the pound is worth next to nothing against the Euro and rents which in 2005 were equal to £450 are now closer to £700. Benidorm is one of Spains most popular resorts amongst the British, Dutch, German and Norwegian tourists so is it resting on it laurels expecting the loyalty of their erstwhile foreign guests.

The originator of the resort worked hard and managed to gain the support of none other than General franco in allowing people to sunbathe in bikinis on the Poniente and levante beaches against the will of the Catholic church. He ensured that the layout of the high rise apartment blocks and hotel blocks enabled most balconies to receive sun for a few hours every day. The resort has also been noted for good transportation, a bus ride for 1 stop or a hundred stops in benisdorm will cost your 1 euro 20cents, or for 10 euros the cost drop to less than 1 euro a trip.

The Poniente beach rennovation should be complete this year, making it a modern clean and pedestrian friendly paseo. There are life guards every few hundred yards along the three major beaches in the resort, levante in the New town, Poniente south of the Old Town and La Cala at Finestrat. Despite all this the resort and the Costas in general have taken at least a 17% reduction in occupancy so far this year and the final toll could be worse. Benidorm and Finestrat Mayors are demonstrating their absolute ignorance of basic financial planning.

Imagine the amazement amongst the local Spanish and ex-pats communities when the Benidorm mayor in his wisdom announced new measures regarding the usage of the beach. Firstly, no alcohol will be allowed on the beach at all and offenders will have their alcohol confiscated and destroyed. next, children will no longer be able to build sandcastles or dig in the sand generally, next, people must be off the beach by midnight and not to return before 6 am. and finally it will be an offence to urinate in the sea. Now I can maybe go along with the alcohol law, but it seems a bit nanny state, the time embargo is maybe sensible in that it will deter hobos from sleeping on the beach and allow the council workers time to comb the beach each morning to make it tidy for the beach users. But, as Benidorm claims to be family friendly, I am staggered that kids will not be allowed to use a bucket and spade any more. What is the knock-on effect? Well, the shops will no longer be able to sell bucket and spades, and I would bet that every child who steps on to a beach in benidorm won't bring them to benidorm, they will buy them in resort. Next year when the brochures come out the tourists with children will steer clear of Benidorm, because a day on the beach is a cheap day out for families, but with nodigging allowed there are going to be a lot of bored children. And as for urinating in the sea! Right hands up those of you who don't know someone who has done that, and how on Earth are the 'beach police' going to enfore that one? Well my theory is, the law enforcers will be lying on the beach mingling with the tourists and have a pair of binoculars, and will scan the the faces of all those in the sea and if any one looks relieved they will be instantly knicked and taken to El plod station.....

So, being armed with this infinately flawed plan destined to cost Benidorm oodles of dosh in lost tourism, enter the fray Finestrat council! Now here we have a Council, that was reported to be in the top ten richest Spanish councils last year, and it now reports that it is skint. The outgoing Mayor seems to be being blamed, but noone can account from the riches to rags position of the council. What does Finestrat rely on? Tourism. When do the tourists like to come? As well as June, July and August because of the sun, there are one or two other events which make the local businesses take on extra staff and stock up with food drink and sundry beach equipment, the fiesta of San Juan being the premier evening in the La Cala de Finestrat diary. So how does the Mayor of Finestrat resolve the financial woes of Finestrat council? He cancelled every fiesta this year with the exception of one saints day in August which is restricted to the village in the hills. Which means San Juan is cancelled - no fireworks, no band, probably no life guard, no parade. Having attended the last four San juan fiestas I can absolutely state that there are thousands of people on the beach, they all have cool boxes stuffed with food bought in the local shops, the local shops employ local people to sell their goods, the local bars have extra chairs on the pavement to cope with the high demand and a blind eye is turned to the anti alcohol and curfew times on the beach. Many foreign tourists will have booked accommodation and transpot last year to ensure they get her for the celebration. So what will their reaction be when there is absolutely no council support for this fiesta? Well I am no tourism specialist, but I guess next years bookings will be down, which mean less money in accommodation, less sales in the shops and bars, less council revenue from taxes. It seems that the ex-pat population in both Finestrat and Villajoyosa is significant and they are entitled to vote in local election and what I am already hearing tells me that the mayors of both towns can no longer depend on the vote of the British ex-pats. So with the emancio building in such a state of disrepair that it could fall down at any time (this is Finestrats responsibility) and the eyesore of a building the Gran Magic Atrium beach still unfinished and unlikely ever to be finished (Villajoyosa responsibility) and the Finestrat brainwave to suspend all fiestas, I think the councils are going into self destruct.

Still, it should be a lot easier to get a beer in the marina bar this year........