The city of Malaga, one of the major hubs for tourists entering Spain, has closed the first half of the year with an increase of almost 10.5 percent in hotel occupancy rates reaching an overall total of 51.5% for the period. This means that more than 376,000 guests stayed in hotels in Malaga from January to June this year, 6.5% more than in the same period in 2009.
This increase in the number of guests staying in hotels in Malaga means the city has now become the most popular of the traditional city destinations in Andalusia and in fact, in the period examined, experienced the third-highest growth in occupancy rates in all of Spain, after Zaragoza and Barcelona. These two cities experienced growth in occupancy rates of 16.5% and 16% respectively.
The Councillor for Tourism and Sport in this part of Spain, Elijah Bendodo, stated that it was “very significant that only a difference of 1,000 guests now separate us from the number of overnight stays registered in the first half of 2008. This is very important when we take into account that 2008 was the best year of the decade for hotels in Malaga”. He added that “the the current economic situation forces us to be cautious with our expectations, but preliminary indications suggest that by the end of 2010 we could exceed the figures achieved in 2008, not only in relation to visitors and hotel occupancy but also in overall tourism revenue, which is really important to the economy of Malaga”.
Domestic visitors from within Spain made up the majority of the guests who stayed in the hotels in the capital of the Costa del Sol in the first six months of the year, and indeed represented some 71.5% of the total. The number of foreign tourists has also experienced some renewed growth over the past year, with an increase of almost 16% in overnight stays among guests from outside Spain. Despite the general decline in the numbers of British tourists staying in most hotels in Spain, the United Kingdom remains the leader of foreign visitors to Malaga. However, in the first six months of this year, with an increase of some 25% France has moved into second place among visitors from outside Spain, overtaking Germany for the first time.