Mike and his wife grew so attached to the sun and sangria that they decided to settle in Spain permanently. Satellite beach communities such as Albir and Alfaz del Pi are home to a multinational mix of residents who became tired of defrosting their windscreens and paying extortionate heating bills.

Benidorm basks in almost permanent sunshine and benefits from humidity levels that would make a Hongkonger weep. Two crescents of honey coloured sand and gin-clear turquoise seas lure legions of northern Europeans and Spanish holidaymakers all year round. In Europe, only Paris and London have more hotel beds.

Europe's uber-resort has tried to reinvent itself more often than Madonna but its core clientele remain loyal. Despite municipal makeovers and frequent rebranding exercises, Benidorm has changed little over the years.

'You know what you're getting when you come here,' three grey-haired ladies licking ice creams reassure me. 'You either love it or you hate it.'

Bingo afternoons; pubs showing 'the soaps from back home' and fish and chip suppers are a reminder that the Costa Blanca is home to 300,000 Britons; the highest concentration of British expats anywhere in the world.

Yolanda Pickett, director of tourism, is keen to stress that people only think they know Benidorm. She wants to talk about sports facilities, golf courses, cycling routes and hiking trails.

'When visitors get here, they realise it's not what they'd imagined,' she says, somewhat hopefully.

She's half right. Like Hong Kong, it's easy to escape all the concrete. The Sierra Helada ('frozen hills') National Park is accessible by following a steep footpath at one end of Levante beach. There are numerous signposted routes with lofty vantage points that were used by townspeople in the Middle Ages to scour the horizon for Berber pirates.

The thing is, though, people don't come to Benidorm for hiking or mountain biking. A pub crawl counts as outdoor exercise in these parts.

Stag and hen groups are a financial lifeline for the bars. The ritualised binge drinking keeps tills ringing and debt collectors from the door. Without the boisterous pre-wedding parties, many establishments would struggle in a city where an estimated 600 licensed premises compete for custom.

Benidorm's old town retains a Spanish feel. The narrow streets conceal intimate tapas eateries and family-owned pensions. Few shopkeepers speak English. Cafes here generally cater to Iberian tourists rather than homesick Brits. Scoobys, however, is a 'bacon and eggs' kind of place.

Proprietors Brian and Susan are feeling the pinch. The couple from Lancashire, England, open their doors at 7am, seven days a week, but at Euro3.50 (HK$35) for an enormous cooked breakfast, margins are wafer thin. And about to get thinner.

'We're thinking of packing it in. The all-inclusive hotels are killing the trade,' Susan explains. The tour operator-driven practice of packaging all food and alcoholic drinks for a single price at the time of booking is causing consternation among bar owners.

'There's no reason for them to leave their hotels. They can drink until they fall over,' Brian grumbles. 'I heard yesterday that the Avenida has started offering deals.'

A few minutes away, a stag party is checking in at the Avenida Hotel. The receptionist tells the grinning revellers that they've paid in advance for their meals but for an extra Euro8 per day, they can go all-inclusive and drink as much as they want. The lads can't hand over their cash fast enough.

With so many colourful characters, plots and subplots, the Costa Blanca is an ideal setting for a sitcom. Bafta-nominated Benidorm is part parody, part uncannily accurate observational comedy. It strikes a chord with viewers in Britain even if some of the portrayals are a little too close for comfort.

Pickett feels that although the primetime show reinforces stereotypes, the publicity is incalculable.

'Overall, we feel that the positives outweigh the negatives,' she says.

The Sol Pelicanos Hotel is slap bang in the middle of the tourist zone. The lobby is clean and modern. Helpful staff direct camera-toting sight-seers to locations they recognise from television. Guest relations manager Valerie Arnauts admits that her bosses are delighted that scenes are filmed at the hotel, although she has never actually seen an episode.

'I receive dozens of e-mails from Brits checking that ours is 'the hotel on the telly'. During filming, we get lots of people here. Our bars are packed.'

Ah yes, the bars. Does the Sol Pelicanos offer an all-inclusive option?

'We'd be mad not to. Europe is in recession and our customers want to know exactly what their holiday is going to cost them beforehand,' Arnauts says. 'We've got a very nice pool area and great facilities. Many of our guests never leave the resort.'

Spending a week or two within the confines of a hotel would be unthinkable for the majority of independent travellers but support for the 'enclave tourism' approach comes from an unlikely source.

Sustainability has long been a buzzword in the travel industry. With worldwide tourist arrivals set to reach the one billion mark later this year, environmentalists and tourism academics believe that high-rise holiday resorts are the best way to accommodate increasing numbers of holidaymakers with the least environmental impact.

Benidorm may at last become a model to emulate, rather than sneer at.

In the hotels and bars, they'll raise a glass to that.