CHIPIONA (CADIZ), 30 May. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Vice President of the Junta de Andalucía and Minister of Tourism, Regeneration, Justice and Local Administration, Juan Marín, predicted this Monday “a summer with magnificent data” because “Andalusia is a safe, sustainable and accessible destination”, in a statement made during the delivery of the 145 Blue Flags to the Andalusian coast granted by the Association of Environmental and Consumer Education (Adeac).
As reported by the Board in a note, the coast of the community will display up to 145 Blue Flags this coming summer season on its beaches, ports and sustainable boats. This is the highest figure that the community has achieved to date since these distinctions were granted and it is also the region that has grown the most at the state level.
“We are in luck, we are at the gates of a summer in which we will have magnificent data and these considerations show that Andalusia is a safe, sustainable and accessible destination, data that positions us and differentiates us from our competitors”, Marín pointed out.
The Andalusian vice president has also highlighted that “the result of these distinctions are the result of public-private collaboration and, above all, of the insistence and effort of many town councils that have allowed Andalusia to have this year a high percentage of Blue Flags on its coastline”.
In this sense, it should be remembered that of the 145 Blue Flags, 122 distinctive correspond to beaches, 21 to marinas and two to sustainable boats. Figures that imply a significant increase (50%) in these recognitions in recent years, going from 96 in 2019 to 145 this summer season.
Thus, Marín pointed out that this year Andalusia obtains a new consideration for an inland beach. If last summer it was obtained by Ardales, in Malaga, this summer season the Blue Flag has been obtained by the La Breña reservoir in Almodóvar del Río, in Córdoba, being the first of these distinctions obtained by this province.
They also premiere this year Blue Flag compared to 2021 those of El Carboncillo (Adra), El Corral (Carboneras), beaches of Villaricos and Pozo del Esparto (Cuevas del Almanzora) and El Playazo (Vera) in Almería; Los Haraganes (Ayamonte) and Casita Azul (Isla Cristina) in Huelva; and Sabinillas (Manilva) and Maro (Nerja) in Malaga, which also adds a new flag in Puerto Banús (Marbella).
In total by province, Almería has obtained 37 distinctions (35 beaches and two ports), Cádiz 34 (29 beaches and five ports), Córdoba (one inland beach), Granada 12 (11 beaches and one port), Huelva 17 (10 beaches and seven ports) and Málaga 44 (36 beaches, six ports and two sustainable boats).
Andalusia has also received five of the nine special mentions awarded. Thus, the towns of Chiclana de la Frontera and Torremolinos have achieved the award for lifeguard services, and the award for inclusive beaches has been awarded to Benalmádena, Chiclana de la Frontera and Málaga.
The Blue Flags are a distinction awarded by the European Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) to sustainable beaches, ports and boats for more than 30 years (1987). It is granted, after annual inspections and audits by ADEAC, to those municipalities that request it (as it is voluntary) and meet a series of criteria grouped into four blocks: Information and Environmental Education, Water Quality, Environmental Management and Security and Services.
–