Benidorm Council has enhanced the city’s accessible shore areas by acquiring three new amphibious chairs for users. In particular, the three children’s amphibious chairs are a €4,867.50 investment. The chairs will be situated at the three accessible beach locations of the city: La Cala, Parque de Elche, and Levante.
The City Council has been enhancing this service over the years by increasing the number of amphibious chairs, support and rescue personnel, equipment, and more. “During a visit to the accessible beach facility in Elche Park, Mayor Toni Pérez, Councillor for Beaches Mónica Gómez, and I are dedicated to continuing our efforts to eliminate architectural barriers and increase accessibility on our beaches.”
The enhancement involved the inclusion of three amphibious chairs for children, which are designed for shore swimming and have received all necessary ISO certifications. One of these chairs will be present in each of Benidorm’s accessible beach locations.
In the summer, Benidorm’s accessible beaches are open from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. from June 1st to September 30th, while in the winter, they are open from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. every day of the year, with the exception of January 15th to February 14th, when they are closed.
The facilities at each location are equipped with a variety of features that enable individuals to bathe and remain in a manner that is suitable for their needs. Consequently, at each location, there are amphibious chairs for adults, sets of amphibious crutches of varying sizes, lifeguards as support staff for bathing, buoys that delimit the bathing area, an access ramp, a walkway connecting to the access ramp to the sea, an adapted changing room and an adapted lavatory, in addition to the new child seats. In the same vein, each of the three regions is equipped with windbreaks and shaded areas.
According to Toni Pérez, accessible tourism is not only the removal of physical, sensorial, and communication barriers, but also the guarantee that tourism environments, products, and services are equally accessible to individuals with and without disabilities. Consequently, the mayor emphasised “the numerous investments and actions that have been taken to promote accessibility, as a result of the years of effort we have been making to achieve this.”
The City Council and the concessionaire maintain “permanent” contact with users of the accessible beaches “to gather their suggestions for further improving the service, which already has very high ratings from the people and their families who use it, especially regarding the attention they receive from the staff at all three locations,” Pérez concluded.
Users during the summer
The steady increase in the number of individuals using this service is indicative of the satisfaction of its consumers. Thus, the number of bathers who utilised this service in June, July, and August of the previous year was 8,684, which was over 1,500 more than the previous year. In June 2024, there were 2,840 users, 3,216 users in July, and 2,628 users in August. In the three-month period, La Cala recorded 958 bathers, Levante had 2,544, and Parque de Elche had the greatest number with a total of 5,182 people.
Author: Derek Appleton
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