Marbella flies blue flags

Marbella already displays its 12 Blue Flags, one more than in 2024, which "endorse the excellence of the services and management of beaches and ports, consolidating the city as a leader on the Andalusian coast." The mayor, Ángeles Muñoz, who presided over the ceremony held at the Mediterranean Park, emphasized that these distinctions, along with the 36 'Q' Quality and 'S' Sustainability awards given to other coastal areas and also raised this Wednesday, "are the result of continuous work by the City Council, associations, and the private sector to meet very demanding requirements." Muñoz expressed gratitude for "the cross-sector commitment of all municipal areas involved, such as Beaches, Environment, Cleaning, Civil Protection, Firefighters, and Local Police, as well as the involvement of groups such as beach entrepreneurs or Produnas" and regretted that, on the contrary, "the effort of the City Council is not accompanied by state investments in structural measures, such as breakwaters or a specific plan against the accumulation of invasive algae." She recalled that these awards "are granted based on objective criteria related to daily cleaning, the condition of urban furniture, safety, accessibility, or the responsible management of resources," highlighting that "they reflect not only the compliance with all these parameters but also Marbella's strong commitment to a sustainable, safe, and top-level tourism offering." Thus, she referred to the city's coastline "being enjoyed throughout the year and requiring constant effort in its care and management," while announcing that "public services and attention to users will continue to be strengthened, especially during the peak months." "From the City Council, we will continue to work decisively to preserve and even expand this level of excellence, aware that our beaches are one of the main tourist assets," the mayor stated, calling for more support from the central government in the face of the need to build breakwaters to stabilize the coastline or due to the accumulation of algae, "whose removal has cost more than half a million euros from the municipal coffers this year." In this regard, she announced that Marbella will host a meeting tomorrow with other municipalities of the Western Costa del Sol Municipal Association to jointly analyze the situation and demand a technical and budgetary response from the central government. "A structural problem that affects a good part of the Andalusian coast cannot be tackled alone," she concluded. The beaches awarded the Blue Flags, granted by the Association for Environmental Education and the Consumer (Adeac) and the European Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), were La Fontanilla, Nagüeles, Casablanca, El Cable, El Faro, Puerto Banús-Levante, San Pedro Alcántara (Guadalmina), Venus-Bajadilla, and Cabopino, with Los Monteros added this year, reaching a total of ten distinctions, and again including the Virgen del Carmen Marina of Marbella and the José Banús port. Additionally, the double certification 'Q' for Quality and 'S' for Sustainability 2025, granted by the Institute for Spanish Tourism Quality (ICTE), was obtained by Guadalmina, Nagüeles, Realejo, La Bajadilla, Las Adelfas, Lindavista, El Cable, La Fontanilla, Casablanca, San Pedro Alcántara, Nueva Andalucía, Puerto Banús, La Venus, El Faro, Cabopino, Real de Zaragoza, Río Verde, and La Víbora.