IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/sustdv/v28y2020i5p1289-1303.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Keeping mass tourism destinations sustainable via urban design: The case of Benidorm

Author

Listed:
  • Almudena Nolasco‐Cirugeda
  • Pablo Martí
  • Gabino Ponce

Abstract

The city of Benidorm is the most renowned mass tourism destination on the Spanish Mediterranean coast. It has been recently acknowledged as a sustainable urban development to support the mass‐tourism industry; however, Benidorm had received strong criticism during many years, mainly because of its striking urban image. The aim of this paper is to showcase the relevant role of sustainable urban design for the development of an effective coastal tourism product. To this end, the specific conditions, facts, and regulations that have led to the current urban design of Benidorm city are presented; and, the key singular urban features of its urban plan contributing to the sustainability of this singular urban model are analyzed. The results suggest that the land occupation strategy, the design of outdoor spaces, and the diverse leisure and accommodation offer, have a favorable impact on the optimization of the city resources, creating a successful tourist destination.

Suggested Citation

  • Almudena Nolasco‐Cirugeda & Pablo Martí & Gabino Ponce, 2020. "Keeping mass tourism destinations sustainable via urban design: The case of Benidorm," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(5), pages 1289-1303, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:28:y:2020:i:5:p:1289-1303
    DOI: 10.1002/sd.2084
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2084
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/sd.2084?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Feifei Tan & Zhaohua Lu, 2019. "The impact of urban compactness on urban sustainable development in China: The case of Nanjing," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(3), pages 270-280, May.
    2. Ivars i Baidal, Josep A. & Rodríguez Sánchez, Isabel & Vera Rebollo, José Fernando, 2013. "The evolution of mass tourism destinations: New approaches beyond deterministic models in Benidorm (Spain)," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 184-195.
    3. Bijay Singh & Martina M. Keitsch & Mahesh Shrestha, 2019. "Scaling up sustainability: Concepts and practices of the ecovillage approach," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(2), pages 237-244, March.
    4. Hyerim Yoon & David Sauri & Antonio M. Rico Amorós, 2018. "Shifting Scarcities? The Energy Intensity of Water Supply Alternatives in the Mass Tourist Resort of Benidorm, Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-17, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Juan Antonio Jimber del Río & Ricardo D. Hernández-Rojas & Arnaldo Vergara-Romero & Mª Genoveva Dancausa Dancausa Millán, 2020. "Loyalty in Heritage Tourism: The Case of Córdoba and Its Four World Heritage Sites," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-20, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fernando Almeida-García & Rafael Cortes-Macías & Antonia Balbuena-Vázquez & M. Carmen-Hidalgo, 2020. "New Perspectives of Residents’ Perceptions in a Mature Seaside Destination," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-25, May.
    2. Gore, Surabhi & Borde, Nilesh & Desai, Purva Hegde & George, Babu, 2022. "A Structured Literature Review of the Tourism Area Life Cycle Concept," Journal of Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being, Cinturs - Research Centre for Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being, University of Algarve, vol. 10(1), pages 1-20.
    3. Camisón, César & Forés, Beatriz, 2015. "Is tourism firm competitiveness driven by different internal or external specific factors?: New empirical evidence from Spain," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 477-499.
    4. Bo‐sin Tang & Winky K.O. Ho & Siu Wai Wong, 2021. "Sustainable development scale of housing estates: An economic assessment using machine learning approach," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(4), pages 708-718, July.
    5. Carlos J. Baños & María Hernández & Antonio M. Rico & Jorge Olcina, 2019. "The Hydrosocial Cycle in Coastal Tourist Destinations in Alicante, Spain: Increasing Resilience to Drought," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-20, August.
    6. Chapman, Anya & Light, Duncan, 2016. "Exploring the tourist destination as a mosaic: The alternative lifecycles of the seaside amusement arcade sector in Britain," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 254-263.
    7. Sandra Ricart & Rubén A. Villar-Navascués & Maria Hernández-Hernández & Antonio M. Rico-Amorós & Jorge Olcina-Cantos & Enrique Moltó-Mantero, 2021. "Extending Natural Limits to Address Water Scarcity? The Role of Non-Conventional Water Fluxes in Climate Change Adaptation Capacity: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-31, February.
    8. Mounir, Adil & Mascaro, Giuseppe & White, Dave D., 2019. "A metropolitan scale analysis of the impacts of future electricity mix alternatives on the water-energy nexus," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    9. Sánchez-Galiano, Juan-Carlos & Martí-Ciriquián, Pablo & Fernández-Aracil, Patricia, 2017. "Temporary population estimates of mass tourism destinations: The case of Benidorm," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 234-240.
    10. Strom, Elizabeth & Kerstein, Robert, 2015. "Mountains and muses: Tourism development in Asheville, North Carolina," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 134-147.
    11. repec:hal:journl:hal-04653583 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Brendan Canavan, 2015. "Marketing a tourism industry in late stage decline: The case of the Isle of Man," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(1), pages 1004227-100, December.
    13. Cremades, Roger & Sanchez-Plaza, Anabel & Hewitt, Richard J & Mitter, Hermine & Baggio, Jacopo A. & Olazabal, Marta & Broekman, Annelies & Kropf, Bernadette & Tudose, Nicu Constantin, 2021. "Guiding cities under increased droughts: The limits to sustainable urban futures," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    14. Ante Mandić & Željko Mrnjavac & Lana Kordić, 2018. "Tourism Infrastructure, Recreational Facilities And Tourism Development," Tourism and Hospitality Management, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, vol. 24(1), pages 41-62, May.
    15. Cirer-Costa, Joan Carles, 2013. "The role of geography in the success of the balearic tourism industry," MPRA Paper 47701, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Yao, Yongling & Pan, Haozhi & Cui, Xiaoyu & Wang, Zhen, 2022. "Do compact cities have higher efficiencies of agglomeration economies? A dynamic panel model with compactness indicators," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    17. Marina Haro Aragú & Josefa García-Mestanza & Lidia Caballero-Galeote, 2021. "Stakeholders’ Perception on the Impacts of Tourism on Mass Destinations: The Case of Seville," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-27, August.
    18. Sacha Amaruzaman & Douglas K. Bardsley & Randy Stringer, 2023. "Analysing agricultural policy outcomes in the uplands of Indonesia: A multi‐dimensional sustainability assessment," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(3), pages 1937-1950, June.
    19. Viktoriia Vovk & Lyudmila Beztelesna & Olha Pliashko, 2021. "Identification of Factors for the Development of Medical Tourism in the World," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-17, October.
    20. Franziska Wiest & M. Gabriela Gamarra Scavone & Maya Tsuboya Newell & Ilona M. Otto & Andrew K. Ringsmuth, 2022. "Scaling Up Ecovillagers’ Lifestyles Can Help to Decarbonise Europe," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-19, October.
    21. Isabel P. Albaladejo & Fuensanta Arnaldos & María Pilar Martínez-García, 2024. "Tourism distribution at competing destinations: Mobility changes and relocation," Tourism Economics, , vol. 30(2), pages 301-323, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:28:y:2020:i:5:p:1289-1303. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1719 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.