A shift in trends in Malaga: hotels are seeing fewer guests, but those who stay are spending more days in the city

Figures from the national statistics institute (INE), provided by the tourism department of Malaga city council, show that hotels achieved an average occupancy rate of over 80 per cent in the first half of the year, a figure representing growth of 1.4 per cent, which peaked last June with an average occupancy rate of nearly 90 per cent.

“This is the best figure for the first six months of the year and confirms an upward trend with an increase of almost five percentage points,” says Malaga’s councillor for tourism, Jacobo Florido.

This indicator places the capital of the Costa del Sol as “number one”, he says, amongst the country’s urban destinations.

This is despite the fact that the number of visitors and overnight stays ended the period in negative territory. In other words, hotels received almost 17 per cent fewer tourists, who extended their stay by 12 per cent to 2.21 days.

“The aim is to exceed a two-day stay, and we are meeting that challenge,” explains Florido.

This trend has continued throughout the half-year, during which the city of Malaga recorded 823,065 hotel guests and 1,747,146 overnight stays, according to data from the INE’s Hotel Occupancy Survey.

These figures confirm that the number of hotel nights has increased by 2.73 per cent compared with the same period in 2025, representing 46,368 more overnight stays, despite a 4.97 per cent fall in the number of guests.

The trend in both variables reflects longer stays, with an average stay of 2.12 days – a figure that has also risen compared with the same period last year, when the average stay was less than two days (1.96 days).

The international market remains the main driver of hotel stays in the city. Of the 823,065 hotel guests recorded between January and June, 270,299 were Spanish residents, meaning that international guests totalled 552,766.

Meanwhile, overnight stays by international tourists showed a positive trend. Of the 1,747,146 hotel nights recorded during the half-year, 465,303 were attributable to domestic tourism, while the international market generated 1,281,843 overnight stays, an increase of 8.25 per cent compared with the 1,184,182 recorded between January and June 2025.

As a result, international tourists accounted for three out of every four hotel overnight stays in Malaga during the first half of 2026 and generated 97,661 more overnight stays than in the same period the previous year.

In fact, visitors to the city have a distinctly international flavour, with the US now ranking as the second-largest source market for guests at the city’s hotels and the largest from outside the EU.

These travellers, with high purchasing power, are increasingly choosing to visit Malaga thanks to the direct flight operated by United Airlines, which runs daily between the city and New York from May until the end of September.

Malaga City Council reports that, in June, the United States ranked as Malaga’s second-largest international source market, behind only the United Kingdom, in terms of both the number of hotel guests and overnight stays.

Specifically, the US market contributed 9,292 visitors and 20,535 overnight stays during the sixth month of the year. Furthermore, the average length of stay exceeded 2.20 days.

In the period from January to June, the United States recorded 41,090 hotel guests and 90,546 overnight stays, remaining the leading non-EU market and ranking fourth among international markets in terms of guest numbers, behind the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy, and third in terms of overnight stays, behind only the United Kingdom and Germany. Furthermore, hotel overnight stays from this market increased by 1 per cent compared with the first half of 2025.

That said, the United Kingdom remained Malaga’s main international market between January and June, with 89,565 visitors and 235,697 overnight stays. These figures represent increases of 1.19 per cent in visitor numbers and 12.17 per cent in overnight stays compared with the first half of 2025.

In the analysis for June, the United Kingdom led the international markets with 15,599 visitors and 41,747 overnight stays, the latter representing a 6.55 per cent increase on the same month last year.

Within the domestic market, Andalucía remained the leading region of origin in June, with 17,760 passengers, followed by Madrid, with 8,252; Catalonia, with 3,438; and the Valencian Community, with 2,320.