At the Municipal Forum, Benidorm mayor Toni Pérez and Torrevieja mayor Eduardo Dolón have urged Spain’s government to tailor funding to the real year‑round population and the seasonal floating population that swells the two towns in summer. They argue that current transfers do not reflect the true scale of these tourist destinations and are insufficient as visits rise.nnThe two cities exemplify different tourism models: Benidorm is compact with a hotel‑led offer, while Torrevieja is residential with extensive urbanisation and a high stock of second homes. Benidorm is registered for more than eighty thousand residents, though the National Institute of Statistics recognises only seventy‑four thousand; Torrevieja has around one hundred ten thousand registered inhabitants, yet the official figure used for state transfers sits at ninety‑three thousand.nnPérez notes that Benidorm records fifteen million overnight stays and more than two million visitors annually, with peak occupancy above four hundred thousand, allowing the council to provide water, cleaning and transport services “reasonably well”. Dolón says Torrevieja has a floating population of about two hundred fifty thousand throughout the year, rising to around five hundred fifty thousand in summer, with water supply served by the company and a cleaning workforce of four hundred in peak season; waste collection costs around twenty‑five million euros per year. Sustaining essential services costs the town around seventy million euros annually.nnOn funding, Pérez proposes that, subject to the ban on using municipal surpluses for current spending, a portion of the hotel and regulated tourist accommodation Value Added Tax be earmarked to return to destination municipalities. He stresses this is not a tax and would not be passed on to visitors. Both leaders say the remaining major challenge is cleanliness and waste management, and the need for spaces that are more liveable and climate‑adapted.