According to travel retailer On the Beach, Benidorm is set for the biggest ever Cheltenham Festival with bookings up 65% for the week compared to last year and hotels recording a 225% increase in bookings.
So why are people deciding to watch sport overseas rather than at the event itself?
Those heading to warmer climes point to the lure of sunshine, cheaper food and drink and a more laid-back experience free of crowds and queues.
Stephen Dahl, 39, has been going to Benidorm for the Festival since 2020 after making the switch due to increasing costs.
“We used to go to Cheltenham every year,” Dahl told BBC Sport. “We would always get the lads together, whether we’d run a coach from Liverpool or stay over, it was our thing.
“We were having to stay further and further away from Cheltenham [because of accommodation costs] and then paying £60 for a taxi to a little village so because of that we started doing the one day because it was getting more and more expensive.”
In the end, they chose to try Benidorm which he says was “not as popular” six years ago as it is now, and despite a small increase in cost since, he believes it is still better value for money.
Dahl has not turned his back on racing, in fact he “goes to more race meetings now” than he did previously, but he says spending “at least £150 a day” at Cheltenham cannot be justified and that is why he cannot see himself ever going back.
And following a surge in popularity in recent years, going to Benidorm has even caught the curiosity of some staunch Cheltenham attendees.
Racing Lee, who presents the Only Fools Love Horses racing podcast, will be at Cheltenham for the first two days of the Festival, but is then flying out to Spain to experience Thursday and Friday – Gold Cup Day – with his friends in Benidorm.
It will be Lee’s first time going abroad for the Festival after attending for 14 years and he has decided to split his week because he could not bring himself to “miss it all”, but he also wanted to “try the alternative and see what others are talking about”.
“The overall Festival experience is like no other,” he says, “but when things are half the price elsewhere? Sometimes you have got to take the value!”
Lee paid £300 for his two nights in Cheltenham when he booked in September and it was around the same price for three nights in Benidorm, booking in January.
“Benidorm offers value, but Cheltenham offers the true atmosphere,” he added. “So each to their own and here’s to a great Festival wherever you may be watching!”
In an ironic twist, despite a dry and mild afternoon in Cheltenham on the first day of the meeting, those who had flown out to Benidorm sat beneath grey skies and dodged occassional showers.
