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Pilar Martínez
Malaga
Monday, 21 October 2024, 11:03
They are not the major 'fishing grounds' for holidaymakers to the south of Spain and the Costa del Sol, nor are they the usual suspects in terms of the volume of arrivals to Malaga province's holiday accommodation. Still, there are four international markets that are growing at a rate of over 20% so far this year. According to data from the latest Turismo Costa del Sol tourism situation report, the USA, Poland, Ireland and Portugal are the countries that have responded most strongly to what the area has to offer its visitors.
Perhaps the two most surprising of these are the 41.3% increase in visitors from Poland and the increase of almost 23% in holidaymakers from the United States, increases that are clearly linked to the improvement in flight connectivity. Those in the tourism industry highlight the bonus of having a direct daily flight from May to the end of September between Malaga and New York that is operated by United Airlines. This is a route that the airline has already announced will be maintained next year, something which the local travel industry applauds. Those in the tourism industry on the Costa del Sol believe this means the consolidation of a market of high interest as it brings tourists with high spending power and above average lengths of stay. Moreover, it positions the Costa favourably within the giant of North America as a good destination for southern Spain as it is the only one offering direct flights from Andalucía.
In the case of Poland, this strong take-off also coincides with the opening of new routes to key cities there. Malaga airport already offers links with up to seven cities in this Eastern European country, namely Krakow, Gdansk, Katowice, Lodz, Poznan, Warsaw and Wroclaw.
Alongside these markets, the unstoppable trend of Portuguese arrivals to hotels and tourist rentals on the Costa del Sol continues with an increase of 20% in the first eight months of this year. The same increase has been recorded in bookings from Ireland, which has become the sixth most important market for the province's tourist accommodation in this period with the arrival of 221,748 visitors. The United States is in eighth position with 156,154, almost 30,000 more than a year ago. Portugal and Poland are in tenth and twelfth place in this ranking respectively, according to Turismo Costa del Sol.
Domestic tourism in decline
Although Malaga province's tourism industry is mostly celebrating good results, not all markets are performing as well in terms of arrivals to hotels and rental properties. In fact, it is domestic tourism that leads this list of being in the red with a drop of 6.5% up to August. This means the loss of almost 132,000 visitors from other parts of Spain, or rather that in this period there were already more than two million Spanish tourists in Malaga province's accommodation and this year there have been less than 1.9 million up to August.
France also failed to maintain the upward trend with a fall of 4.8%, which is notable in terms of volume given that it is the fourth most important market. Denmark also fell by the same proportion and Norway dipped slightly by 0.7%. It should be remembered that the three major international fishing grounds for incoming tourists are still the United Kingdom, which grew by 3.9% to 849,555 tourists staying in hotels and holiday lets, the Netherlands, which rose by 6.8% to 242,624, France, which fell by 4.8% to 241,538 tourists, and finally Germany, which increased by 5.9% to 230,720.
The Costa del Sol tourism board reports growth in the rest of the markets not yet mentioned in its Top 15. These are, in order, Spain, the UK, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the United States, Belgium, Poland, Sweden, Portugal, Denmark, Switzerland and Norway.
It should be noted that tourist accommodation in Malaga province ended the first eight months of the year with the arrival of 5.6 million visitors, which represents an overall increase of 2.5%. These visitors generated 21.4 million overnight stays with almost 5% more overnight stays.
Airport arrivals
If the ranking of arrivals at Malaga Airport is taken into account, then it is all-change in the rankings because it is harder to determine market position and countries of origin as only the arrivals on direct flights are logged. This means, for example, that, on Madrid connections, it cannot be known where passengers have connected from unless they have a stopover at the airport that does record their nationality.
The noteworthy information from the list of arrivals at Malaga Airport is that all the markets that make up the 'Top 15' are on the rise, with growth of over 20% from countries such as Germany (an increase of 21.4%), Italy, with an increase of 24.9%, and Poland, rising almost 78%.
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