Benidorm

The man who built Benidorm bows out aged 85

His keen eye for the delights of the bikini helped unleash generations of Brits on to the beaches of Spain.

Pedro Zaragoza Orts, the former mayor of Benidorm who died yesterday aged 85, transformed this small fishing village into a centre for package tourists keen to feast on fish 'n' chips as they cultivated their "lobster pink" sunburn.

Zaragoza, who held the post from 1950 to 1967, realised that allowing northern European visitors to bask on the sun-soaked beaches would change the village forever.

Unfazed by church efforts to excommunicate him for a plan that bishops suspected might pervert the morals of the average Spaniard, he got on a Vespa and drove to Madrid to persuade General Franco himself.

El Generalissimo saw the potential for tourism to bring in badly needed foreign currency and turned a blind eye to religious objections.

It opened the floodgates for hordes of Britons who have headed to Benidorm ever since, to spend their holidays in English bars such as Lineker's, promenade on a replica Wigan pier or simply roast on the beach.

The experience was repeated across Spain, setting the model for the Costas.

Zaragoza, who died from heart failure in hospital, also changed the skyline of Benidorm from that of a quiet village of 1,700 people to a city of 70,000, and known as the Manhattan of the Costa Blanca, with skyscraper hotels designed to cram in as many tourists as possible.

Benidorm is now the high-rise capital of southern Europe, with 330 skyscrapers, including the 52-floor Hotel Bali.

Zaragoza also ensured a steady supply of water. From a quiet resort with just a handful of pensiones for summering Spaniards in the early 50s, Benidorm now attracts 500,000 Britons each year.

The resort also mirrors the way Spain has taken off as a tourist destination. It overtook France in 2003 as the favourite destination for Britons, with 14.4 million spending their holidays there every year.

Keen to transform Benidorm into a resort, Zaragoza brought in the first bylaw in 1956 to allow sunbathers to wear bikinis and forbid others from insulting them.

Zaragoza said: "People had to feel free to be able to wear what they wanted, within reason, if it helped them to enjoy themselves as they would come back and tell their friends about the place."
It raised quick objections from the church and two of Franco's ministers, who feared the average Spaniard might be morally corrupted by the influence of fair-skinned, scantily clad foreigners.

Before then tourists were sometimes asked to cover up and one British woman was fined for slapping a Civil Guard officer who asked her to put on a shirt.

But Zaragoza, who had powerful friends in the Franco regime, was undaunted and ultimately changed the course of Spanish tourism, causing a small social revolution in an austere country groaning under the yoke of the National Catholic regime.

Juan José Chiner, an architect who commemorated Zaragoza's work in an exhibition, said: "During the 50s, tourism was the only way to get money to revive the economy which had been ruined by the civil war but the regime did not know how to do this.

"Zaragoza understood well how to achieve this."

Though the attraction of package tourism, symbolised by Benidorm, has waned in recent years in favour of short-stay trips or more cultural travel, the resort itself remains popular with Britons.

Frances Tuke, of the Association of British Travel Agents said: "Some package deal operators did pull out a few years ago but that had more to do with the way the market is changing. Benidorm remains just as popular as ever."

Benidorm has declared two days of official mourning for Zaragoza, who will be buried today.

At a glance

10 fish'n'chip shops

70 British pubs

Total population 70,000, of which Britons make up the biggest foreign community with 4,500 registered. Many more not registered

Delights: Replicas of Wigan and Blackpool piers

Source: Guardian