Medidas de adaptación al riesgo de sequía en el sector hotelero de Benidorm (Alicante, España)

Abstract

RESUMENLa garantía de abastecimiento de agua es una condición básica para el mantenimiento de los estándares de calidad de un núcleo turístico. Benidorm es la ciudad turística más importante del litoral mediterráneo español por su número de plazas hoteleras. La adaptación a la sequía ha sido una constante desde mediados del pasado siglo en este destino turístico. Se han llevado a cabo medidas municipales y supramunicipales para asegurar el suministro de agua potable y, asimismo, medidas desde el sector hotelero que han permitido reducir de manera significativa el consumo de agua por persona y día entre 1975 y 2015. El umbral de riesgo de sequía se ha reducido drásticamente a partir de la creación del Consorcio de aguas comarcal y de la implantación de sistemas de aprovechamiento de recursos de agua no convencionales (aguas depuradas y desalación).Palabras clave: abastecimiento de agua, sequías, turismo, Benidorm, medidas de ahorro, hoteles. ABSTRACTWater supply guarantee is a basic condition for maintaining the quality standards of a tourist town. Benidorm is the most important tourist center in Spanish Mediterranean coast by its number of hotel rooms. The adaptation to droughts has been a constant since the middle of last century in this tourist town. It have been carried out municipal and supra-municipal measures to ensure consumption of potable water, and also actions from the private hotel sector that have reduced significantly the consumption of water per person per day, between 1975 and 2015. Drought risk has been drastically reduced from the creation of the supra-municipal water agency and the implementation of systems that use non-conventional water resources (treated wastewater and desalination).

Incentives and Barriers to Water-Saving Measures in Hotels in the Mediterranean: A Case Study of the Muga River Basin (Girona, Spain)

“…Environmental incentives were mentioned much less frequently than cost incentives, although the implementation of water-saving measures will benefit the environment, regardless of the reason. Olcina-Cantos et al [39] highlighted the close association between water-saving measures and energy savings, and indicated that actions designed to save water and promote better water practices could cut energy costs by a quarter. Han and Hyun [31] reported that while hotels were mostly interested in encouraging more responsible water use among guests to reduce operating costs or comply with legislation, the measures implemented also indirectly reduced the impact on the environment and use of water resources.…”

“…Water use varies significantly from one hotel to another depending on a range of factors, including location and climate [37][38][39], category, size, number of beds [40][41][42][43], year of construction or renovation [43], range of services and facilities [11], and ownership (e.g., family run or part of a chain) [44]. Not all factors, however, have been found to have the same effect on water consumption.…”

Adaptation Strategies of the Hydrosocial Cycles in the Mediterranean Region

“…Benidorm is a clear example of a tourist city predominated by hotels [38]. This tourist resort [39] has one of the most efficient drinking water management systems in Spain, both in times of high and low supply. This is the result of a complex configuration where the conventional source diversification strategy is consolidated by the reuse of wastewater and it is linked to the city's compact and vertical urban nature [40].…”

Mecanismos de las políticas públicas para la gestión sostenible del agua: hacia un modelo eficiente en las Islas Baleares

“…Separar los volúmenes consumidos entre los distintos usos urbanos obliga a disponer de datos pormenorizados por unidades de consumo y sector (Rico, 2007;Deyà-Tortella et al, 2017). En los hoteles de Benidorm en el periodo 2005 a 2014, aquellos cuya capacidad alojativa era superior a las 500 plazas redujeron los consumos entre un 10 y 15 %, contrariamente, los de inferior capacidad incrementaron sus consumos en torno al 10 % (Olcina et al, 2016).…”