Opinion Article by Mario Martínez Murcia
President of the Orihuela Chamber of Commerce
ORIHUELA, OPEN YOUR EYES
Orihuela, June 9, 2025 – You just have to open your eyes. Walk through our streets, stop in front of a shored-up historic building, or look at how traditional businesses struggle to survive amid uncertainty and lack of support.
Orihuela, our Orihuela, is slowly dying. And the most worrying part is not just the visible deterioration of its structures or the lack of concrete investments, but the widespread feeling that there is no direction, that no one is in charge of a clear plan for the city.
I say this with affection, but also with concern: Orihuela has entered a state of institutional, social, and economic coma from which it can only emerge if its citizens—each and every one of us—accept that the time to act is now.
This isn’t a dramatic headline or rhetorical exaggeration: we’ve been dragging a process of decline for decades. The city that once led in the realms of territory, education, heritage, culture, and commerce has seen its roles, its representation, and its capacity to lead regional development stripped away year after year.
We lost universities. We lost connections. We didn’t know how (or didn’t want) to plan an industrial fabric capable of competing. And what’s more painful: we still haven’t truly activated the enormous potential of our heritage—heritage that could have made Orihuela a driving force for monumental and religious tourism.
Many cities with less history and legacy than ours have understood that the best way to protect what is theirs is to invest in its preservation, open it to the world, and turn it into a source of activity and wealth. We are still waiting.
The absence of a true city plan has been our greatest mistake. While other municipalities have adapted to change, here we’ve continued repeating management errors, enduring an inefficient administrative structure that consumes much of the available resources without generating the return that citizens expect.
The recently approved budget reflects this situation: bloated, lacking transparency, and backed by a loan that hasn’t yet been used but is already costing the public coffers money every day.
Meanwhile, our biggest source of income and activity—Orihuela Costa—feels increasingly disconnected from the city, neglected, and faces the real threat of ultimately severing its ties with us.
That would be the final blow. If we lose Orihuela Costa, we lose the financial and functional viability of a city council that cannot sustain itself on its own.
From the Chamber of Commerce, we cannot remain silent. It is our duty to point out what isn’t working and to extend a hand in building solutions. Because Orihuela needs more than quick fixes: it needs leadership, strategic vision, and the will to change. It needs a consensus-based roadmap that sets real priorities, encompassing the full rehabilitation of the historic centre, the revitalization of business activity, the modernization of administration, and the development of a unique economic and tourism model.
Orihuela cannot live only from its past. But it also cannot resign itself to its present. We must build a possible future. Because those who want to see it, can. And those who want to change it, must act now. All it takes is to open our eyes.
Mario Martínez Murcia
President of the Orihuela Chamber of Commerce
