Benidorm has ditched its beach reservation system after just six weeks as there aren't enough tourists in the resort.
The local council says sunbathers just have to turn up at the main Levante beach in the future as the prior booking site has been de-activated.
In future, to help with controls over coronavirus outbreaks through beach parties, it will also now close at 9pm, a move which has been introduced in other resorts.
Since June 15th when they reopened, the beaches have registered 1.8 million users but Benidorm's mayor, Toni Pérez says prior booking will no longer be needed from today due to a decrease in demand.
The system for Levante beach waa introduced on July 17th.
Since then, 167,012 parcel reservations were made, 121,757 of them online, reaching 299,914 users in Levante in this period.
"With the foreseeable reduction in demand and occupation of the beaches, the reservation system is no longer necessary to be able to guarantee, as we have done so far, that everyone enjoys our beaches in complete safety and tranquility," said the mayor.
He said the number of people who had used the beaches since June 15th showed how much an attraction they were in Benidorm. Peak occupancy was on August 15th with 43,610 people.
Despite no reservations being needed, the beaches will continue to operate social distancing, at least until the end of September and there will still be stewards at the access points.
Figures for use of the beaches have shown how much the British market, once a mainstay of Benidorm, has suffered due to the coronavirus pandemic and the UK government's decision to impose 14 days of quarantine for any Brits returning from holidays in Spain.
Of those who reserved plots, 94% of the users of the Levante beach were of national origin, compared to 6% of foreigners. Among the users of international origin, the highest percentage corresponds to tourists from France, followed by British, Portuguese, Italian and Belgian.
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