It was once a small Spanish fishing town. Now it attracts millions of tourists every year

Photographer Rob Ball turns his lens on Benidorm, a skyscraper-packed tourist metropolis dubbed the “New York of the Mediterranean.”

In 1964, 23-year-old Ramon Martinez Martinez left his job as a struggling painter in Madrid, Spain, and journeyed south to Benidorm in search of new opportunities. In the first half of the 20th century, Benidorm was a small seaside town best known for its tuna fish and orange groves, but by the time Martinez arrived, a budding tourism scene was about to take off, providing him and his family with a ticket to a better life. Martinez bet on a boom, but even he could not have predicted what the formerly quiet fishing town would become. Today, Benidorm is known as the “New York of the Mediterranean,” a tourist metropolis distinctive for its high density of skyscrapers. Gone are the fruit farmers and the fishermen, replaced by millions of visitors from across Spain and Europe. In 2023, 2.7 million tourists visited Benidorm — 36 times the size of its permanent population. As notorious as it is popular, Benidorm is seen as both an incredible economic success and a symbol of the uncontrolled juggernaut that is Spain’s tourism industry. It’s also the subject of a new book, “Benidorm,” by British photographer Rob Ball. Speaking to CNN over Zoom, Ball explained that he travelled to the Spanish coast “with an open mind,” aiming to depict its “totally unique” landscape and architecture. Having photographed coastal landscapes for 15 years, Ball sees his latest work as “a prequel” to those images — a way of understanding the decline of local tourism as international travel became more affordable to the general public in the 1960s. Close to a third of visitors to Benidorm are from the United Kingdom. So ubiquitous is the British tourist in Benidorm that the town has become known for its abundance of British pubs, availability of full English breakfasts, and broadcasting of British sports on outdoor screens. Every March, thousands of Brits flock to Benidorm to watch the Cheltenham Festival — a popular horse racing event that takes place in England — on TV. Consequently, Benidorm divides opinion in the UK, as it does in Spain. For some, it is the perfect holiday destination — hot weather, familiar faces and bars open until the early hours. For others, the town provides the most inauthentic travel experience possible, Benidorm a byword for debauchery and sleaze. Ball chose to focus on the positive aspects of this controversial town — its natural beauty and groups of happy tourists relaxing on the sand.