Despite its benefits and drawbacks, tourism is the lifeblood of Benidorm. The metropolis of towers is brought down to earth by the crime statistics, which contrast with the thriving visitor and occupancy numbers year after year.

In addition to being a popular vacation spot and second home for many of foreigners, Benidorm has become a hub for prostitution, bachelor parties, intoxicated tourism, and partying. Drugs are an integral part of the city’s nightlife.

With 3.4% fewer crimes in 2024 than in 2023, the city’s crime statistics improved. With a 6.2% increase, drug trafficking is still the country’s worst unresolved problem, according to the Ministry of the Interior.

One drug trafficking crime occurs for every 437 residents in Benidorm, the municipality most impacted by the province as a whole. This is a concerning statistic that is significantly higher than the territory’s average.

The city has turned into a haven for drug traffickers, who always find a market for their narcotics in strategic locations where neon lights are a common sight for shoppers.

The municipality with the highest frequency of this offence relative to its population is Benidorm, which leads the pack with 2.29 instances per 1,000 residents.

Because drug traffickers constantly find a market for their narcotics at strategic spots where neon lights are a familiar sight for shoppers, the city has become a haven for them.

With 2.29 cases per 1,000 inhabitants, Benidorm is the municipality with the highest prevalence of this infraction in relation to its population.

In order to recruit new customers and set up meetings with buyers at the locations where the drug and money transactions occurred, the criminal organisation exploited its positive relationships with staff members of hospitality facilities.

The user turns to the drugs if they don’t end up on the streets. Authorities battling the distribution of illicit narcotics also face difficulties because of drug dens.

The police actions to remove these drug stores tucked up among lodgings for tourists serve as evidence of this. In one of the most recent operations, two drug apartments where cocaine was being trafficked were shut down in September 2024. The three individuals involved were arrested, and nearly two and a half kilogrammes of drugs and 21,000 euros were seized, even though they attempted to dispose of 10,000 euros and some of the drug by throwing it off the balcony.

Its enormous floating population is essential to understanding drug trafficking since it skews various statistics about its 75,000 registered citizens.

According to the town’s analysis of tourist flows, which focusses on 2023, the average monthly number of visitors to Benidorm is over 252,000, and in August, that number climbs to over 2.1 million, which is twice the yearly average.

“We can also know that on the busiest day of the summer, which in 2023 was August 12th, the city could reach a peak of just over 365,000 people, including residents and floating population,” the report states.