Some 2.8 million foreign visitors headed to Benidorm on Spain's Mediterranean coast in 2024

Fifty years after General Francisco Franco's death, Benidorm still clings to the mass tourism model it pioneered under his dictatorship, even as protests against overtourism sweep other Spanish holiday hotspots.

Built on bikinis, skyscrapers and package holidays, the industry reshaped socially conservative Spain's image abroad and brought in much-needed foreign currency.