Costa del Sol tourism board takes stock after 'best summer ever' amidst concerns about 'high prices'

Juan Soto

Malaga

Tuesday, 1 October 2024, 13:59 | Updated 14:07h.

Malaga province has recorded the "best summer in history", according to the head of Turismo Costa del Sol and provincial authority president Francisco Salado. However, despite surging numbers of visitors he pointed out concerns with rising hotel prices.

"I am concerned about the high prices," he said. From June to September, 6.2 million tourists visited the province, a 3.1% increase compared to last year, Salado pointed out. During this period, tourist income reached 8.75 billion euros (7.3% more than last year) and employment figures show a growth of 6.8% to 149,693 people registered with social security in June.

Salado said that these are figures are "very satisfying because we have had a really good summer and this is reflected in the most relevant indicators". "We can say, once again, that we have experienced the best summer in the history of the province of Malaga," he added.

Despite this, Salado said he is concerned about the high prices of hotels, which have reached an average of 182.74 euros (0.8% more than last summer). "Evidently, the economy is not doing so well, and if there are other destinations that are more competitive from the point of view of the price of hotel accommodation, such as Asturias, Cantabria or Galicia, in the end, if you don't have the economic resources, you would choose those destinations," he pointed out.

Zoom

Salado added that he is concerned about how these prices have influenced Spanish tourists and their decision to visit the Costa del Sol, or not. However, he was not worried about the weather and the impact the excessive heat has on some tourists. "Foreigners love this weather and that's why they are coming more and more to the Costa del Sol; and we go to places with a cooler climate. That is why the high season is being extended," he said.

Salado also spoke about the tourism model in Malaga province. "Malaga is not overcrowded," he said, addressing doubts on whether the province could handle the current tourism boom. "The people of Malaga feel very comfortable and they put out the red or carpet for tourists because they know that tourism is the main industry."

After pointing out that almost 150,000 people have worked in the tourism sector over the past few months, he asked: "What would they work in? What alternative do we have? We have grown up all our lives receiving tourists, generation after generation, and what we cannot do is try to say or justify that the problems Malaga has, in terms of transport, lack of water or housing, are due to tourism because it is not true".

"We have reached this moment of saturation because of policies that have not been tackled at the right time," he said, referring to the lack of housing, subsidised housing or investment in transport or water. "These are measures that have nothing to do with tourism, but with the fact that the infrastructures we need have not been built. If they were here, this minority movement that is trying to blame tourism for our problems would not exist," Salado added.

Salado pointed out that arrivals at Malaga Airport exceeded five million (10.1% more than last summer). Of the total, 4.22 million were international and 0.81 million Spanish.

During the months of May to July the number of visitors staying in hotels, flats, campsites and rural accommodation registered a slight decrease of 0.1%, with a total of 2.4 million people. Overnight stays increased slightly to 9.4 million.

Regarding hotels only, the number of visitors has decreased by 0.4% with the average stay reaching 3.7 days. The revenue per available room reached 140.74 euros (1.6%).

Looking ahead to the last four months of the year, Salado announced that 4.68 million seats will be offered on flights (10.6% more than last year) and that Malaga will be connected to 138 cities (six more). It is forecast that the main tourist markets will be the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, France and Italy.