It’s easy to see how busy Spain is!
With an average hotel occupancy of 80%, July has closed having exceeded tourism expectations, yet again. This month is now expected to be the best August seen in recent history. There are more tourists making longer stays and spending more money.
Tourism professionals and hoteliers are all saying their August calendars are already filling up. Reservations are being made for mid-week bookings, not just weekends.
Luis Callejón Suñé, the president of the Aehcos Hotel Association says that many hotels in Andalucia have already received bookings amounting to 85% of their capacity through advance bookings. Furthermore, he suggests that occupancy levels will reach and exceed 90% this month.
This is not expected to be a typical August with tourists staying longer than in previous years. Also, as demand is so high there are few offers or discounts to be found meaning higher earnings for the hotels in the area. In fact, some hotels have even imposed a minimum stay of five-nights throughout August.
August 2015 was a record summer in its own right with over 620,000 tourists visiting the province. This amounted to 2.6 million overnight stays which was the highest figure all year.
This year is expected to see at least 5% more overnight stays being recorded on the Costa del Sol. A quick trip to Malaga airport or a walk along the beach will show you how many people are already here, with only one week of August behind us. Last Sunday alone there were 442 flight operations in Malaga carrying 72,000 passengers.
The only negative here is the extra weight on the areas roads which are slowly but surely clogging up under the increased traffic. Access roads in and out of the major towns are regularly at a standstill. Even with the new road layout around Puerto Banus and San Pedro there are still daily queues in and out of the port. Sources suggest officials are puzzled as to why so few people are using the toll roads. I can answer that; too expensive.
Increased Expenditure
The chiringuitos (beach bars) are packed every day as the beaches fill with tourists. “There are more visitors and they are consuming more this year. Our turnover will have increased between five and six per cent in July compared with last year, and that was already a fantastic month in 2015,” said the president of the beach business association, Manuel Villafaina.
“We are absolutely full in the first half of the month [August]. We have had people, families of four or five, ringing us up to see if we can help because they can’t find anywhere to stay,” he added.
Hotels are not the only beneficiaries of this extra spending with bars and restaurants also reaping the benefits of the hordes of tourists arriving daily.
This huge increase in tourism can be put down to a number of factors. These include security concerns in other once popular destinations such as Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia.
But remember… in only three weeks the tourist season closes. September arrives leaving us with the best weather of the year, quiet roads and empty beaches. I do love September!
