View of Benitachell town centre, now an official tourist town
On Friday, February 5th 2010, the Valencia government announced 21 new tourist towns in the Valencia region. In the province of Alicante, in addition to Poble Nou de Benitachell, the towns of Callosa de Segura, Elda, Monforte del Cid, Parcent, Pego and Xaló have also been declared tourist towns.
A tourist town is a town which throughout the year maintains an influx of overnight visitors that exceeds the number of people enrolled in the municipal residents’ census, where this activity is considered the base of its’ economy and where tourist accommodation capacity is greater than that of the primary residence homes.
The advantage of becoming a tourist town for Poble Nou de Benitachell is that it will be able to apply for the specific economic aids managed the Valencian Ministry of Tourism that, since the implementation of the Valencian tourism law no. 3/1998, allocated transfers exceeding 50 million euros to the councils of towns declared tourist towns, which is a big help for their infrastructure, resource identification and compensates for the additional financial effort that the town halls and the Valencia Tourism Administration employ by carrying out projects that aim at improving tourist areas or services.