The Costa del Sol attracted 107 million tourists in the last 15 years

Malaga is a world tourist power and its economy depends on the number of travelers prefering the Costa del Sol year after year to other destinations. This fact is irrefutable having it at hand and even more significant if you look at it in retrospect. The Patronato de Turismo de la Costa del Sol compared the touristic figures of the last 15 years (1993 and 2007) and the results proof the push and strength of the sector. In that period the Costa del Sol accommodated 107 million tourists who realized 1.4852 overnight stays and spent 44827 million Euro, which is almost the double of the actual gross domestic product (GDP) of the region.

Already in 1993 the Costa del Sol was one of the most important tourist destinations in Spain and holiday refuge to thousands of British and Germans. But however, the differences between now and then are enormous. A clear example is the number of people working in the tourism sector. In 1993, also in the middle of economic crisis, worked 36513 people for the sector, end of 2007 79.143 have been counted, which corresponds to an increase of 116 percent. Comparing the number of companies another important growth can be noticed: from 5075 then to 8967 now almost 4000 companies more.

In that context the hotels obviously were the most favored, as they attracted more than 49 million tourists. One of the Costa del Sol businessmen bets was investing into quality by creating mainly hotels with four or five stars. An idea which is now yielding results, as Malaga copes better with the economic crises than most other national or international tourist destinations. In the last 15 years 35312 hotel vacancies have been created totaling now 85.447 of which 33717 count with four stars. This increased the quote of hotels on the Costa del Sol with four and five stars to 61% in relation to the 31% in 1993. In total 252 new hotels opened in that period, counting mainly with foreign guests.

Yesterday Salvador, president of the Patronato de Turismo de la Costa del Sol presented those facts to the sector and stressed especially the boom in this region. But he also made quite clear not to rest on the laurels because the tourism nowadays cannot any longer be compared to the past. In the last five years the Internet and low cost flight companies captured the marked to a point that tour operators are becoming less important and millions of tourists all over the world are organizing their trips by themselves. Reductions on flight tickets on their part have caused a change in the travel habits of the tourists. Instead of one large holiday per year they now opt for more, but shorter trips. In 1993 for example the average stay of a tourist on the Costa del Sol was 15 days, now its 11 days.

Touristic commercialization and promotion concentrates nowadays, instead of big fairs, on almost personalized offers, very focused on the end customer. Just that way the Costa del Sol will be able, if it wants, to double its figures again.

If you are coming to the Costa del Sol for holidays, the resources below would be useful:

• Find cheap car hire Malaga airport using websites you can trust like Malagacar.com
• Malaga airport information from airmalaga.com and our current Malaga airport info area.