Simon Wade
ONE of Spain’s most popular beauty spots, the Algar Waterfalls situated in the hills above Benidorm, has come under criticism for a lack of social distancing controls.
The site is notoriously narrow and, at parts, it’s near impossible not to brush up against fellow sightseers.
Lack of parking spaces, a flawed queuing system and a failed three-shift pattern for visitors have all exacerbated problems.
Management reduced the capacity to 800 visitors but they have no system of counting people in or out.
Since the COVID-19 lockdown finished and the site reopened on June 22, there has been great difficulty managing the movement of people, but two separate complaints regarding various issues have been filed by Policia Local.
Mayor of Callosa d’en Sarria, Andres Molina, insists that the Town Council is trying to enforce the regulations, and visitor numbers are, ‘much less crowded than in other summers’.
Council opposition parties claim to have issued warnings of overcrowding, ‘that occurs practically daily’.
Mari Carmen Mascaro from the socialist party PSOE hinted at reasons for lethargy on the subject are financial.
“But the Algar is the goose that lays the golden eggs for the council, they don’t care as long as they make money,” she claimed.
The mayor countered that they, ‘do everything possible to comply with the rules and control the capacity [but] it is difficult to do it 100%’.
He also attributes many complaints due to ‘the fact that people are now more alarmed’.
