Malaga experiences big-spending American tourist boom

The United States has consolidated its position on the podium as one of the top international markets where foreign tourists visit Malaga city the most, new data shows. For six months the US has been the second and third country of origin of tourists staying in the city's hotels. It's a giant leap in the figures where in 2023 it was only the second market in the month of June, according to Malaga city council data.

Councillor Jacobo Florido pointed out that in June, July and September of last year, the US was the second largest issuer of tourists, the third largest in March, October and November and the fourth in April, May and August.

Arrival numbers of American tourists remain strong even outside the months in which Malaga Airport has a direct flight with New York, the data shows. The route has been operated by United Airlines from the start of May to the end of September for the past two summers, with more flights put on to fly daily last summer. There are plans to consolidate this operation for 2025 with an offer of 51,000 seats.

Data from the hotel occupancy survey published monthly by Spain's INE national statistics institute shows that last November, Malaga hotels welcomed 6,355 visitors from the US, who booked a cumulative 12,836 nights, staying in the destination for an average of 2.02 days. As was the case last October, once again the US remains the third most important market for hotels in Malaga city, despite no longer having a direct flight to New York. The United Kingdom and Italy are ahead of the US, according to the data.

There has not been a single month in 2024 in which the arrival and stays of tourists from the US have been below the levels of the previous year, the city council also pointed out.

Last October, the total figure of visitors and overnight stays for American tourists in 2023 had already been exceeded. July and October were the months which recorded the highest numbers of US visitors, in both cases exceeding 20,000 stays. A total of 166,282 nights were booked by more than 75,500 American tourists in Malaga hotels in the past year, compared to almost 140,000 at the end of 2023, according to the data.

Florido said the statistics show how Malaga city is an attractive destination for Americans, adding that the city can count on a direct flight with New York operating all 12 months of the year. "It is important to bear in mind that tourists continue to arrive from the USA during the peak months of the season despite having to land in the city via other airports in the country and that, being a long-haul market, it remains in the top positions, competing with nearby countries with a higher volume of tourists such as the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany," he said.

In an interview with SUR, United Airlines head of sales in Spain, Antonio de Toro, took stock of the second year and said that "expectations have once again been exceeded", as well as keeping alive the dream of having a direct flight from Malaga to New York all year round: "if we see that there is an opportunity to fly to Malaga in winter, I can assure you that we will be there".

Florido pointed out the importance for the sector of the arrival of US tourists, who are considered to spend more than the average tourist. Florido said that after consolidating direct flights from Malaga to destinations such as New York, Doha, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, or Bahrain, where there are more visitors with greater spending power, Malaga city council commissioned a survey on travel expectations and experiences.

According to the survey, 73.94% chose to stay in Malaga city, compared to other towns in the province, such as Marbella (15.21%), Torremolinos (7.75%) or Benalmadena (2.25%). In the survey, carried out between July and August at Malaga Airport on 710 passengers of six airlines - US (United Airlines) and the Middle East (Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways, Saudia Airlines, Gulf Air and Kuwait Airways) - 91.57% said they travelled for leisure purposes compared to the remaining 8.43% who did so for business.

More than half (55.06%) were travelling to Spain for the first time and two thirds of the total (71.77%) had never visited Malaga before. "The survey revealed a high degree of satisfaction among passengers using these six routes," Florido said.

"In this way, almost all (99.72%) consider that the tourist attractions they visited in Malaga met their expectations and the experience of the city in general greatly fulfilled the general expectations of their trip (almost 98%). The best scores were given to accommodation and gastronomy."