According to data from June this year provided by the Junta de Andalucia Provincial Tourism Delegation, Malaga has 56,513 top category vacancies and more than 60% of hotel beds in the province are situated in the four-star, five-star or Grand Luxury category.
The average occupancy levels in Malaga are also ahead of the rest of Andalucia, which are at 45 per cent. The sector is showing no signs of slowing down as there are many more plans in the works for the future. As it stands, there are currently four five-star hotels planned in Almogia, Velez-Malaga, Antequera and Estepona, as well as 11 four-star hotels, 7 three-star hotels, 1 two-star, 3 one-star, and some guest houses and hostels as well!
Despite its apparent success, Malaga is no stranger to “tourism crisis”. In fact, the sector suffered quite badly in 1993 but pushed through by learning to rejuvenate and improve their hotel facilities in order to keep the visitors flocking to the area.
And they haven’t thrown in the towel since- far from it. In the past three years, over €30 million has been spent on refurbishing and renewing hotel facilities and also enhancing the categories, making Malaga province one of the most highly concentrated areas of luxury hotels in the country.
The province is of course not entirely exclusive to luxury and has many other hotels which are open to all budgets, offering more than 32,200 beds from hotels in other categories. During the last year, the province boasted 15.2 million of the total of 40 million overnight stays in the region, outshining Cadiz, their nearest competitor by double. That’s quite an achievement!
