Which Malaga municipalities are in Spain's top 100 of most important destinations for tourism?

Exceltur, the alliance for excellence in tourism in Spain, has just published its second edition of a report that maps out which municipalities contribute most to tourism in Spain in 2025. Among other aspects, it has established a top-100 ranking of the most significant places for tourism. If we shorten this list to the 'top 25', the Costa del Sol is remarkably prominent, with five municipalities in that ranking: a ratio of 1:5. The five sharing that honour are Marbella, Malaga city, Torremolinos, Benalmádena and Mijas.

The report specifies that, in each region, information is presented exclusively for the municipalities included among the 500 with the most availability to accommodate tourists in Spain. Accommodation includes the number of hotel beds, key-based apartments, campsites, rural houses and other tourist lets located in each municipality. These data come from Spain's INE national statistics institute.

To determine the relevance of tourism to the economic and social performance of each municipality, Exceltur uses the tourism specialisation indicator for each given area. This compares the average annual number of tourists with the average population of the municipality (the sum of residents and visitors). This indicator seeks to approximate the relative impact of tourism on the economic and social fabric of each municipality in Spain. On this basis, in the list of the top-100 Spanish municipalities for their tourist relevance and social contribution, Marbella appears in seventh place, only preceded by Madrid, Barcelona, Benidorm, San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Salou and Adeje. According to Exceltur, Marbella has 72,305 tourist accommodation places and the presence of tourism in the town is estimated at 42%.

Of the municipalities in Malaga province in this 'top 25' of the 100 most important tourist destinations in Spain, Malaga city lies in 13th place. It is also Spain's sixth-largest city in the ranking of the country's provincial capitals, boasting nearly 56,000 accommodation options and a tourist presence of 12% in the city. It is followed by Torremolinos in 18th place, Benalmádena in 21st and Mijas in 24th.

In the list of inland destinations, Malaga province also plays a leading role, with Ronda in fourth place among the top 100 Spanish municipalities, followed by Frigiliana in 13th place and Antequera, which is ranked 20th.

Exceltur points out that "it is the well-established destinations that have experienced the highest levels of growth in the supply of accommodation and other tourist offerings in recent years, mainly due to the entry into the market of new spaces in tourist accommodation, accounting for a significant part of the increased tourist pressure and placing their planning and management as a strategic priority at the municipal level." Therefore, according to information from this mapping of destinations, the volume of accommodation places in tourist-use housing increased by 25.3% in 2024 compared to 2022, significantly more than the 2% rise in hotel beds and the 1.4% increase in apartments, campsites and rural houses. The study warns of "major growth" in the supply of holiday homes in many of the main tourist destinations: Madrid with an increase of 48.8%, Barcelona with an increase of 26.4%, Benidorm with a rise of 21.6%, Marbella up 21.2%, Seville up 31.8% and Valencia and Malaga with increases of 56.4% and 35.8% respectively.

The Exceltur report details that "the attractiveness of these destinations has led to a growth in the resident population, which explains a significant part of the increase in people/space pressure experienced between 2022 and 2024 in these municipalities. The greater number of residents in these established destinations almost tripled the increase in tourists in paid accommodation, accounting for 73.8% of the increased human pressure." Furthermore, it specifies that "sun and beach destinations, and especially a small group of municipalities, are those that continue to have the greatest relevance in terms of total tourism activity in Spain due to the volume of supply and demand they represent, while also simultaneously concentrating the most structural competitive challenges." In fact, the report details that "the attractiveness of the Spanish coastline and the enhancement of the multiple leisure experiences linked to enjoying the coast explain why 41 of the 50 established tourist destinations in Spain, in terms of the size of their tourist accommodation market offering and the relevance of tourism in their socio-economic fabric, are destinations located on the peninsular coast and the islands."

Exceltur defends "the opportunity to promote in these destinations a national commitment to a new paradigm that prioritises the renovation of existing buildings for their revaluation rather than merely creating new real estate, that enhances tourism products and experiences that make a greater integral contribution to society over those that are less differentiated, that promotes high-quality living spaces for the location of activities complementary to tourism, that generates a smaller environmental footprint, with greater energy efficiency, thanks to the active management of more peaceful mobility models and that promotes greater tax revenues to favour and manage the needs of local society."