Costa del Sol increases tourist capacity to 700,000 places to sleep for first time in history

The Costa del Sol has increased its tourist accommodation capacity to 700,000 places, as of October this year. This is a milestone for the destination, which has tripled its tourist bed capacity in the past eight years. The data in Coyuntura Turística de Turismo Costa del Sol, based on studies by the Spain's INE national institute of statistics and the Junta de Andalucía's tourism registry, put the number of accommodation places in hotels, tourist flats, rural houses, campsites and holiday homes at 700,913 at the end of October. The increase is 6% compared to the same period last year, i.e. 39,673 more beds.

Positive tourism data and accommodation prosperity have allowed investors to continue betting on the Costa del Sol and Malaga province. As a result, the volume of accommodation has reached 95,465, that is, 6,562 more than in the same period last year. The figure shows a growth of 7.3%.

Supply of holiday rentals was regulated in Andalucía for the first time in 2016, when the total accommodation offer in the province (hotels, tourist flats, rural houses, campsites and the first tourist homes) amounted to 210,000 places, far from the current capacity of the destination, which will be well over 700,000 beds by the end of 2025.

Growth has been unstoppable since 2016 and the fastest rate has been recorded in the holiday rental sector. Suffice to say that before the pandemic, in October 2019, there were 392,410 accommodation places in the province and the upward trend was 18%. During that period, the Costa del Sol had 41,421 properties, almost 11,000 more than the previous year. This figure shows a frantic upward trend, amounting to a 35.4% increase.

Two years earlier, i.e. one year after the first Andalusian tourist accommodation law came into force, the regularisation of properties operating in the holiday rental sector was already felt. In October 2017, beds to accommodate visitors grew by 21.5%. During that period, the overall supply amounted to 254,231 bed places in hotels, flats, campsites, rural houses and holiday homes.

If we look at data from the Big Data of the Turismo Costa del Sol report, which is constantly updated, there are 95,597 establishments in the province, with a total of 701,796 places. Of these, 631,594 are located along the coast, while 70,202 are in the inland of Malaga province.

Of the overall volume of beds available on the Costa del Sol, 460,211 are in the form of tourist accommodation, which despite the limitations established in several municipalities in the province, with Malaga city leading the way by approving a moratorium for three years in August, continues growing at a rate of 7.6%. Most of this supply is located in the coastal area (439,254).

In 2017, the supply of holiday homes for tourist purposes stood at 84,200, which increased until it surpassed the 200,000 mark in 2020, 300,000 in 2023 and 400,000 in 2024. Since then, the upward trend has slowed from 427,707 to 460,211 registered properties.

It's important to note that not all holiday rental properties are operational. In addition, some of them are still conditioned by the entry into force of the single register of long-term rentals that has been set up by the central government. The application of this regulation is surrounded by controversy on the part of the holiday rental sector and the regional government of Andalucía, which has appealed against it, claiming that it encroaches on its powers. Alianza para la Excelencia Turística Exceltur, however, highlights "the consolidation of the positive effects of the implementation of the single registry of short-term rentals to eradicate illegality in the tourist marketing of housing and subsequent problems, such as access to it and coexistence".

The boom in holiday rentals overtook the hotel sector years ago as the largest provider of accommodation places and now the gap has widened even further. As of 17 December, Big Data de Turismo Costa del Sol records show 556 hotels with 106,369 places in the province. The hotel sector is also growing, with a 4.5% increase in the number of spaces compared with the same period last year.

In this case, practically all the supply is concentrated on the coast. Only 6,600 bed places are located in the interior of the province, showing a decrease of 0.4%, compared with a rise of almost 5% in those located in the coastal area.

Overall, the accommodation offer continues expanding, but in a steadier fashion. For instance, in 2017, there were already 92,364 beds. Today, six out of ten hotel beds are in four-star establishments - 66,266 beds across 188 hotels. However, there has been a notable increase of almost 9% in the top-end hotel segment, rising to 29 properties with nearly 10,500 beds.

It is worth remembering that the hotel sector is in full swing. Hotel chains have earmarked around 600 million euros for improvement projects and opening new establishments.

Apart from this, there are initiatives that are committed to the most exclusive luxury, such as the arrival of the first Waldorf in Spain in Marbella, promoted by Higuerón Developments, which will convert the historic Marbella Golf into an "integral ultra-luxury ecosystem", with a hotel, villas and a golf course in what will be the Higuerón Marbella Golf Resort. The project involves a total investment of 220 million euros. The Four Seasons complex in Marbella - a luxury project by business owner Ricardo Arranz - will absorb another investment of 650 million euros. It will feature a hotel, residential spaces and villas, with a beach club and flagship restaurants.

Recently, a report by consultancy firm Colliers has stated that hotels led real estate investment in the first half of 2025 and that "the holiday segment regains leadership over the urban segment, with 63% of the total volume, although there has been a change in the profile of investors, with national investors taking over the leading role in transaction activity, allocating 1.22 billion euros to hotel assets and achieving a share of 64%".

Another accommodation offer that is more stagnant is that of tourist flats, which are governed by regulations different from those applied to tourist accommodation, despite the fact that they offer practically the same product. The main difference is that most of them are located in entire buildings. In this category, the Costa del Sol offers visitors 64,854 places, representing a 1.6% increase compared with last year. Historical data since 2017 shows that this type of accommodation has grown more slowly, rising from 57,521 beds to the current 64,854.

Finally, the province's camping sector adds another 15,600 places, a figure that has remained almost unchanged since 1992 - the year that marked a turning point in the growth trend this type of accommodation had been following since 2017.