Huge crowds and queues at San Diego Comic-Con Málaga highlights urgent need to expand city's Palacio de Ferias
The city hall has still not advanced the project to increase the size of exhibition and conference venue despite including it in its budget for 2023
Malaga's potential to host major national and international events seems to grow disproportionately compared to the capacity of its facilities. The Palacio de Ferias y Congresos (Fycma) was inaugurated 22 years ago, on 22 March 2003. The venue keeps showing signs that it has become too small for the needs of the Costa del Sol capital. One stark example was the four-day San Diego Comic-Con Málaga, which put the Fycma to the test and highlighted the urgent need for an expansion as soon as possible.
Queues have been the most recurrent criticism among the 120,000 visitors. This issue could have been alleviated by providing more access and making strategic decisions such as the relocation of the Funko point of sale that opened twice a day, causing races among those interested in purchasing one of the collectible figures and uncontrollable saturation at the entrances. Such situations can become risky if not managed well. Beyond these temporary problems, it seems clear that the city is bursting at the seams when it comes to hosting events of this magnitude.
The project to extend the Fycma building has been on the agenda of the municipal government team for several years. However, the city council has not yet taken the decisive step in this direction - the contracting of the design, although the most likely candidate is veteran architect Ángel Asenjo, who was commissioned by former mayor Celia Villalobos.
Already in previous years, the city council's budget has included this pending issue, but without investing the money. In the 2023 budget, the year of the municipal elections, 1.2 million euros were set aside for the extension of the Palacio de Ferias, but this economic injection did not result in any contract. The following year, the budget of the urban planning department (Urbanismo) contained 261,308 euros allocated to the drafting of the preliminary project for the extension. It once again didn't progress and the matter has no longer appeared in the 2025 Urbanismo budget.
It is entirely Urbanismo's responsibility to contract the design, which foresees Fycma's expansion towards the car park that separates it from the Cortijo de Torres fairgrounds.
Back in April 2021, Francisco de la Torre planned an operation to transform the fairgrounds into a new centre for year-round use, introducing office buildings, shops and a hotel. Within that plan, 38,000 square metres were reserved for the extension of the Palacio de Ferias. However, that ambitious operation, worth 232 million euros and designed by architects Juan Gavilanes and Francisco González, is still at a standstill. This implies that the expansion of the Fycma might be executed regardless of the progress in this particular project.
The current car park space is the logical area for growth. As SUR has learned, the car park can accommodate two basements for parking purposes and a ground-level expansion of the Fycma, maintaining the design for the characteristic wave-shaped roof.
The aim is to almost double the exhibition area of 19,500 square metres, adding a further 18,000 square metres. The current large hall has 901 seats, so the future building plan envisages a hall for more than 2,000 people. At present, the building is an unlikely choice for many events due to its limited capacity.
According to the Fycma's annual report, its activity decreased in 2024 compared to 2023, as the number of events (fairs, conventions, conferences, concerts, etc.) fell by almost 15%, from 156 to 133. This also resulted in a drop in the economic impact (from 226 to 193 million euros) and in revenue (from 14.6 to 12.7 million).
In addition to increasing capacity, the Fycma requires improved access, as it became clear during the Comic-Con. Despite its proximity to the western ring road, the access to the site has not changed in recent years. One project that could significantly improve road connections to the Palacio de Ferias is linking the high-speed AVE underground train to the motorway. However, a recent study carried out by the city council has found that state highway legislation doesn't allow for such a connection to exist, as it does not respect the minimum distance required for other similar junctions (one kilometre).
Until the expansion project turns into reality, those responsible for events will have to analyse alternatives. Faced with similar challenges, other cities, for example, resort to temporary venues that absorb the demand while the infrastructure is completed.
According to the Spanish consumers' organisation OCU, San Diego Comic-Con Málaga has generated hundreds of complaints related to queues, access and organisational deficiencies. The organisation warns that saturation of available spaces could compromise the experience and damage the reputation of the city in the future. Although San Diego Comic-Con Málaga was an unquestionable success, it once again highlighted a need that has been looming for years. If access and capacity demand are not taken seriously, Malaga risks becoming not only a city seemingly worthy of large-scale events but also a frequent subject to viral criticism.
