From the current issue of SALON
DH
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Benidorm: World Heritage Site?
Blackpool’s aspiration to achieve World Heritage Site status as a major centre of popular
tourism could be mirrored by a proposal to promote Benidorm as a World Heritage Site
because of its ‘special place in architectural history as the first high-rise resort in Europe’.
The proposal has come from Professor Philippe Duhamel of the University of Angers who
told the Twelfth International Benidorm Tourism Forum that the resort’s ‘unique collection
of skyscrapers’ were of particular cultural importance. ‘Tourism is now the world's most
dynamic and important industry, whether viewed in terms of employment, cultural
change or environmental impact’, he said, ‘and the beach holiday is a particularly
significant component of tourism's growth and as such, outstanding holiday destinations,
like Benidorm, deserve to be taken seriously’.
Cruelly, the Financial Times, commenting on the proposal, said: ‘to say that Benidorm is
“a remarkable site for what is understood by mass tourism” is akin to observing that
Chernobyl is useful for understanding nuclear energy. That is true enough, but it is not
something to celebrate.’
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