Hotel occupancy in Malaga and along the Costa del Sol dips slightly as prices rise

An increase in prices has caused occupancy in hotels throughout the province to dip slightly in the past month, new figures show.

According to the hotel tourism data published on Monday 24 July by Spain's national institute of statistics (INE), the occupancy rate of rooms stood at 77.76% for June, down from 79.62% a year earlier. However at a national level, occupancy has increased slightly from 70.06% to 71.46% - and Andalucía remained stable at just over 67%.

Although Malaga's figures are down, they continue to be stronger than the rest of the country, where occupancy in the province's hotels is higher than the national average.

Malaga's hotel sector is the third most expensive in Spain, behind only Guipúzcoa and Barcelona, with average room rates in the vicinity of 150 euros per day, the figures show.

Malaga prices are also above those of the Balearic Islands, where they are close to 130 euros, and Madrid, where they are around 125 euros. The Andalusian average is around 112 euros. Other tourist destinations competing with Malaga have lower average rates, such as the Canary Islands (105 euros) or the Valencian Community (102 euros).

Higher prices, less occupancy

According to an analysis by Javier Hernandez, executive vice president of the Association of Hotel Businessmen of the Costa del Sol (Aehcos), higher prices have had "repercussions" on demand, which has dropped.

Hotels have preferred to maintain the rates, or raise them, although this has resulted in having more empty rooms. But Hernandez also pointed out that since last May the sector has noticed a slowdown in bookings due to inflation, not only because of the increase in prices in the sector, but also because of the rise in interest rates.

According to Aehcos forecasts, this July will close with a hotel occupancy rate of 84.11% in Malaga. This is lower than that of July in 2022 (86.29%).

Profitability per room rises less

The average daily rate paid by guests has increased more than the profitability of hotels. The data shows that the hotel's revenue per available room was 108.78 euros in Malaga at the end of June. This figure is the fourth highest in Spain, after Barcelona, Guipuzcoa and the Balearic Islands. But if the average room rate paid by clients has grown at a rate of over 10% in the last year, the average revenue per room has grown 2.5% less: 7.78%.

Two municipalities in Malaga have the highest average daily rate in Spain and the highest revenue per available room (RevPar) in the country. These are Marbella, where the average price per occupied room is 221.5 euros. Meanwhile, Estepona registers a RevPar of 168.5 euros, on average.

Fewer travellers, but more overnight stays

The number of overnight stays in the province has increased by almost 1.5% compared to June 2022, reaching 2.19 million. In the country they have increased by 3.26%, to more than 36.25 million.