Value for money tourism

Having just returned from our Easter break in Benidorm, Spain, I finally understood where and why tourists flock to certain holiday destinations.

On arriving at the hotel and being given our room, we went on the balcony to see the view. On one side was the beach and promenades and countless shops, cafés and bars and on the other side we saw the mountains. But there was something else that caught our attention. It was the mass of people, the sunbathers who covered the whole area of the sandy beach, the elderly tourists and locals who took over the promenade and the bars and the shops full to capacity. It was a procession of people wherever you looked.

So to get to the point, as advised by our leader, we went to buy water which he insisted we use even for brushing our teeth. We entered the shop next to the hotel and saw five-litre jerry cans of water. Being tourists ourselves we wondered what we were going to be charged. So I gave the man a €20 note and was not expecting much change. He gave us back €19. So five litres only cost €1. Later in the evening while in the lobby chatting with some Brits one man said it was the beer that brought him to Benidorm as beer only cost €1 for a pint.

Outside the hotel a Choo Choo train passed by, taking tourists around the city streets. This was free...

Breakfast was in abundance and again to our surprise something we never had in any hotel was free champagne. So no wonder people flock to destinations where they can get value for their money. We have the beaches and promenades and history etc but not the masses of tourists that we experienced in Benidorm.

On visiting the grocer again - and as he was a Brit - we had a good chat and I asked him why most things were so cheap. He said that Benidorm gets 12 million tourists a year. If they just concentrated on the three summer months they would have to rip people off to make a living. But in doing it 12 months a year with lower prices the profit is much higher. He was right.

Before leaving Malta I bought an ice tea for €2 from the departure lounge. In Benidorm it costs €1. It is bad enough keeping a lot of tourists away with our high prices but even we Maltese come back loaded with shoes and clothes, etc.