Malaga focuses efforts on attracting long-haul tourists

During the Fitur international tourism fair in Madrid, which opened on Wednesday 22 January, the city of Malaga is focusing on attracting the long-haul tourist. With its own unique stand in the transit area of Pavilions 5 to 7, which recreates the Santa Sofía corralón, the Pompidou, La Farola and the Palmeral de las Sorpresas, the city clearly celebrates the 150-year anniversary of its port.

City councillor for tourism Jacobo Florido reflected on the successes of the historic year 2024 and outlined some of the key challenges the city aims to tackle in the year ahead. Among them, he stated that, in addition to working to improve the negative index of the stays of national visitors, the city's tourism sector intends to grow its connections in Asia, especially in China and South Korea, as well as to consolidate the progress and continue the upward trend in North America. The current goal is to achieve an all-year-round direct flight from Malaga to New York. With regard to closer connections, such as those in Central Europe, the aim is to increase the number of days visitors spend in Malaga.

"We have to go for the long-haul tourist," said Florido. After his press meeting, he celebrated the twinning of Malaga with the Mexican city of Playa del Carmen, which will allow the forging of a link of cultural transfer and good tourism practices. "Both the Andalusian city and Playa del Carmen are important tourist destinations, with hundreds of thousands of hotel rooms, a wide range of tourist attractions and strong urban development, which faces them with new challenges in terms of sustainability and planning. The agreement will encourage relations between the two cities, turning it into a vehicle for cultural, social and economic links," he said.

Today, 23 January, the councillor is expected to seal another agreement with Cancun. The aim of this collaboration is to promote Malaga as a destination, where 70% of the five million tourists come from the United States and Canada. Another one of Malaga's objectives is to establish a collaboration with Qatar Airways, which already offers a direct flight from Malaga to Doha throughout the whole year. This relationship would also mean opening another door to the Asian market.

In the 254 square metres of exhibition space, the 48 companies that travel to Malaga confirmed a "more than intense" first day of Fitur and expressed "good expectations" for 2025. Meanwhile, Florido, together with Sports delegate Borja Vivas, presented important sporting events, such as the celebration of the Basketball Supercup, which will take place in September, the international 'Sport and Events Europe' congress, which will is expected to bring more than 300 companies and international sports institutions to Malaga between 25 and 27 March, and the Meeting Atletismo Málaga.

The Gastronomic Academy of Malaga, in collaboration with the city council and the local hospitality association (Mahos), presented the Malaga 'traditional gastronomy' seal, with which they want to recognise those restaurants that, for their quality and loyalty to traditional recipes, represent the culinary identity of Malaga. For this purpose, a committee of renowned chefs and gastronomic experts, such as Adolfo Jaime, Fernando Rueda, Javier Hernández and Dani Carnero, has been assembled. "Malaga's traditional gastronomy is a reflection of its rich history and cultural diversity, nourished by unique products, such as fish from the coast of Malaga, our magnificent vegetable gardens and our unique meat breeds, such as the Malaga goat or the Iberian pig. All this means that Malaga can boast emblematic dishes such as gazpachuelo, espetos, fried fish, cabbage stew and ajoblanco, among many others. With this seal, we, at the Gastronomic Academy of Malaga, aim to recognise the efforts of those who strive to share and maintain this culinary wealth that is so much our own," explained Manolo Tornay, president of the Gastronomic Academy of Malaga.

These presentations are only part of the hundred or so professional meetings that Florido has stated will be held at this year's Fitur, highlighting contacts with 25 Spanish tourist agencies, as well as with the main hotel investors in the country who will communicate the business opportunities offered by the city.

Florido stated the importance of the endorsement of the city's good tourism results, which surpassed the total number of overnight stays for the whole of 2024 this past November, reaching 3.2 million nights booked by 1.5 million visitors, 6.3% more than in the first eleven months of the year. "For us, maintaining the average stay at 2.15 days is very important. The challenge is to continue to grow in this indicator and recover the national market by attracting a tourist with greater purchasing power," he stated. Florido said that "Malaga is the second city in Spain where the average spending of the visitor and the profitability of the hotels have grown the most."