– CARTAGENA TOWN HALL
The councillor responsible for Tourism, Beatriz Sánchez del Álamo, has been in charge of officiating this Saturday the first wedding held on the beach of Cala Cortina, thanks to the implementation of the ordinance regulating the use of beaches in the municipality of Cartagena.
A couple residing in Cartagena were the first to contract a civil marriage on this emblematic Cartagena beach, which has been set and decorated for the ceremony.
This is the second ceremony to be held on beaches outside the summer season following the approval of the ordinance, which allows weddings to be held outside the high bathing season, which runs from 15 June to 15 September, and applications must be made five months in advance to process the corresponding permit with the Coastal Demarcation.
«The celebration of weddings on our beaches is a great opportunity to continue promoting tourism and an attraction for our citizens,» said the councillor, who highlighted «the attractiveness of our coastline and those 16 points where weddings can be held, with unique and emblematic landscapes of both the Mediterranean and the Mar Menor.
Sánchez del Álamo recalled that the aim of the ordinance is to boost tourism and hospitality in the municipality «creating more jobs, deseasonalising and diversifying the activity of the beaches».
The new Ordinance for the use and exploitation of the Beaches and Temporary Facilities was finally approved in July 2022 and allows the possibility of holding weddings and events of interest on 16 beaches in La Manga, the Mar Menor, La Azohía and Cala Cortina, and had the participation of the tourism sector.
In fact, the ‘Study of the economic impact on the celebration of events in the maritime land area of Cabo de Palos and La Manga’, prepared by Hostecar with data prior to the pandemic, determined that such celebrations could have an economic impact of about five million euros and about 2,700 jobs.
For celebrations to be held in the first half of the year, applications must be made before 15 September of the previous year, and for celebrations to be held in the second half of the year, applications must be made before 15 April of the same year.