Costa del Sol Tourism figures up

Costa del Sol tourism figures up in August for first time in three years


By Pilar Martínez, www.surinenglish.com


The industry is optimistic that September will also be a good month. Tourism figures for the Costa del Sol for the recent peak summer months indicate an end to the downward trend set over the previous two summers.

The industry and the authorities are confident that the positive figures will continue at least until the end of the month of September.

In August hotels on the Costa del Sol registered an average occupancy of 90 per cent, with more than two million overnight stays, according to the Costa del Sol Tourist Board. This is an increase of five per cent on the same period last year, a very positive result considering that this year there are 4,000 more hotel beds to fill on the Costa del Sol.

Tourism figures for the month of July also increased, in this case two per cent up on last year with 70 per cent of all hotel accommodation in use.

However hoteliers stress that now it is still more difficult to fill their establishments than it was before. “Now we have to do a lot more to achieve what before we could do with just four telephone calls”, explains José Prieto, the President of the hoteliers association Aehcos.

Nevertheless hoteliers have pointed out that while more tourists have come to the area they have not spent as much money, and so the tourism income for August will not have increased at the same rate. Prieto claims that the early appearance this year of last minute special offers is partly to blame.

Pedro García, representing the Costa del Sol’s travel agents, has stressed the good response from Spanish tourists this year while the figures for foreigners arriving through tour operators are lower than last year’s.

Both hoteliers and the authorities agree that the figures will remain positive for September. The Junta de Andalucía predicts a growth of 1.7 per cent in hotel occupancy for the region while the Tourist Board expects an increase in three per cent for the Costa del Sol.

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