Weekender Alicante North Issue 118

14 FRIDAY 22ND NOVEMBER 2019
www.weekender.news
Local&WhatsOn Benidorm
Prospective
urban gardeners
all get their wish
ALL 52 individuals and associations
who requested
allotments in Benidorm
will be able to have one,
Environment Councillor
Monica Gomez confirmed
this week.
She explained that initially
there were slightly
more applications than plots
available, but they have
been able to restructure the
area so that all applicants
were successful.
The allotments are located
next to the Pepita Esperanza
Linares Centre in La Cala
and will be between 10 and
12 square metres for the 46
solo gardeners. The six associations,
five charities and
a neighbourhood group, will
each have double plots.
The Environment Council
will be running a training
session on organic gardening,
saving water and basic
cultivation.
by Simon Russell
Ms Gomez said many of
the applicants were younger
residents, keen on growing
their own fruit and vegetables
in an organic manner for
both health and cost reasons.
Poor start to month
blamed on government
A 5.1% drop in hotel occupancy
rates for the first half
of November is down to the
governmental delay in the
start of the pensioners Imserso
scheme according
to Hosbec, the Benidorm
hotelier’s association.
Imserso, where Spanish
by Simon Russell
resident pensioners receive
heavily subsidised holidays
funded by the state, has
lost around 60,000 bookings
for the sector at a quiet
time of the year that the
scheme usually helps plug.
Just under half the hotel
stays in November’s first
two weeks were by people
from the UK said Hosbec, a
slight fall.
The domestic market was
the second biggest followed
by Belgium, the Netherlands
and then Ireland.