During these years they saw the expansion
of the port, and in 1925, the construction of the first houses on the beach of Levante. After the Civil War, were
gradually recovering the socio-economic activities, with fishing (again) as the
most important productive sector.
But in the decade of the 50s saw the first
steps to produce a real transformation, in 1956 the City Council approved the
order of the urban village with the aim of creating a city designed for leisure
tourism, based on well-mapped streets and broad avenues along the beaches of
the configuration.
Since then, there was a sharp shift from
traditional activities (fishing and agriculture) to the service sector led by
tourism, which since then became the basis for the prosperity of the city.
Spanish tourism began sharing space with visitors from other parts of Europe, first arrived by bus and then with the opening of
Altet airport in 1967, arriving on charter flights. Currently, Benidorm is one
of the top tourist cities on the Mediterranean coast.
During the nineteenth
century and continued growth began timid adventure tourism such as the Spa
inauguaracion of Our Lady of Suffrage. Although in later years improved
communications with Alicante and Madrid, the other local economic sectors were
going through a good moment, because the merchant was in crisis with the loss
of the last overseas colonies in 1898 (Cuba, Puerto Rico and Philippines) and
soon after the boom of the agriculture of the vine (wine and raisins) was
disrupted with the arrival of phylloxera in the early twentieth century. The
economic downturn combined with some migration to Cuba,
the maritime district of Barcelona and the coast of Cadiz.
