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Miguel Cantó is the doyen of Finestrat hoteliers. He owns La Cala hotel, an iconic establishment on the town's beach. The hotel first opened its doors in 1963, so when on 25th March it does so again to start the 2023 summer season, it will have been welcoming tourists from all over Europe for more than half a century.

1. Why choose La Cala de Finestrat as a tourist destination?

Mainly because it's a very pleasant and very beautiful environment. It's very straightforward for tourists coming to La Cala; there are no traffic jams to tackle, which is essential, and there's a whole range of services from a chemist to a restaurant, plus a shopping centre with everything you could possibly imagine. Best of all, they can go for a walk and enjoy the beach, which is lovely.

2. This Saturday, 25th March, Hotel La Cala opens for yet another season, making it 60 so far. What was this corner of the Mediterranean like half a century ago?

It was very family oriented. I really miss those times when La Cala was one big family, when everyone helped each other out. There were only very few of us, very few. It was just us and then, after a lot of hard work, the people of Finestrat built the Calafín apartments, then they put the restaurant in the basement; El Arenal restaurant was in the area too, with Mr. Pomero. There wasn't much else. Tourists who went there had great purchasing power and when you compared it with the peseta (the Spanish currency before the euro), it was still higher, much higher. They were the first ones to travel, and Spain realised it could sell sun and beach, and it latched onto that. The first foreign currencies began to enter the country and that was when the government decided to support people who could build hotels and apartments. People talk about the famous trip made by Mr. Zaragoza (Pedro Zaragoza, Mayor of Benidorm between 1950 and 1967) to Madrid to meet with Franco to ask if he would give the go-ahead to develop tourism in Benidorm because Spain needed currency to buy oil, to pay for electricity and, ultimately, to meet the needs that existed back then. Everything was sorted out nicely, even women being able to wear bikinis on the beach. In fact, what we have today is thanks to them and to the people who put their money into building something that was new for this country.

3. You've talked about missing that family atmosphere of the early days. Do you feel nostalgia? Was the past better?

For me it was, in every way. Knowing how to behave, how to conduct oneself, there wasn't the envy you see nowadays. I think people were more humanitarian than they are today. They helped each other more. We haven't evolved well. Progress will lead to destruction, I hope it takes a long time, but we don't seem to be on the right track. We aren't happy with anything and we're healthy, we live well, we've never lived better than we do now, we've never had what we have now and yet we're still not satisfied.

4. What are the challenges facing tourism on the Costa Blanca?

It's a tough question. Sun and beach tourism is over-exploited. It's still there but with one major failing: lack of water. If we had it, it would mean we could make the Mediterranean the California of Europe. It's a field that hasn't been fully explored. We could have an scheme like Imserso (Spanish Institute of Older Persons and Social Services) at European level, attracting retired folk with money to spare and allowing us to have tourists 365 days a year. However, we're not exploiting this because we haven't got the resources. If governments came to an agreement and realised that we could be spreading our funding more evenly, we'd get a better distribution that matches each area's interests, which would translate into more work, more taxes and, ultimately, more wealth for the country.

5. You're the doyen of Finestrat hoteliers. Are you thinking about retirement?

No, I'm going to carry on working, making investments, creating wealth, and helping my people, which is my greatest pride, my greatest satisfaction. Logically, it's costing me more all the time, that's inevitable and I don't know how long I can keep going, although I hope it'll be for a long time yet because otherwise, I wouldn't have made all these changes. Getting up in the morning and knowing I've got to come to the hotel livens up my life. I hope to keep doing it for a long time. That's my dream.