Rapturous welcome for royal couple as Felipe and Letizia visit Benidorm and listen to tourism sector worries

SPAIN’S monarchs, King Felipe and Queen Letizia, recently visited Benidorm as they tour the country’s autonomous regions.
They arrived to a rapturous welcome but Felipe and Letizia were not there solely to enjoy enthusiastic applause. They met and listened to hoteliers, tourism professionals and businessmen as well as trade union officials who are fighting to get the resort back on its feet again as it emerges from the Covid-19 crisis.
Toni Mayor, president of the Hosbec hoteliers’ association, revealed afterwards that they described the complicated situation to the royal couple, and emphasised that saving tourism must be a priority.
On leaving the meeting at an Avenida del Mediterraneo hotel, the King and Queen went walkabout along the Levante beach promenade.
Here they greeted the newly-arrived Beach Assistants, also stopping at an ice cream parlour where the King sampled a sugar-free turron ice, pronouncing it “really good.”
Amid cheers and calls of “Guapos!  and “Viva el Rey!” they stopped three times for photo calls, one of them with the regional president, Ximo Puig, Benidorm’s mayor Toni Perez and other dignitaries before they set out for Valencia.