Rural lodgings across Malaga province are almost full for Christmas and New Year's Eve

Every year more families, couples and groups of friends rent a rural house to celebrate Christmas Eve and welcome in the new year in Malaga province. Hotels on the Costa del Sol are also noticing this upturn. As a result, almost half of these businesses organise New Year's Eve dinners and 32% also host Christmas Eve parties.

The reality is that inland, rural lodgings will be close to full during these key dates, according to Ruralidays.com. Hotel occupancy in the province is estimated at 75.3% from 24 December to 1 January, five percentage points higher than last year. The Costa del Sol hoteliers association (Aehcos) points out that hotel occupancy is expected to reach 74.24% on Christmas Eve and 81.2% for New Year's Eve.

The Ruralidays.com booking platform states that "the Christmas holidays have become one of the busiest periods of the year for inland tourism in the province. The people of Malaga are increasingly interested in gathering with family and friends in properties of this type in inland villages." The company affirms that this trend, already evident for New Year's Eve, is also gaining popularity for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and so we can expect to see an occupancy rate in excess of 75% during these dates for such properties in Malaga, the highest rate in the Andalucía. region.

However, the absolute peak of the Christmas season for rural accommodation - also one of the busiest periods of the year for this sector - will be New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. For December 30th and 31st and 1 January 2026, occupancy rates in accommodation of this type in Malaga will be over 84%, according to Ruralidays' statistics. This means that Malaga province ties with Cordoba for the number of beds booked, although both lag slightly behind Granada, the province with the highest demand at 85%.

Co-founder of Ruralidays, Felix Zea, explains that "at Christmas, the main type of client is primarily families who like to get together away from home". Since these are large groups, houses with ten or more beds are at 95% occupancy for these dates. As for New Year's Eve, he states that "there is a mix of two types of clients: a slightly younger demographic who want to spend New Year's Eve with their friends and then the other is families with children". In this case too, the properties with more than ten beds are already close to full occupancy at 97%.

Prices 

The increase in demand comes despite the fact that this type of accommodation has also increased its rates. Zea states that "the average price of Christmas bookings this year is 31.90 euros per person per night, which is 7.6% more than last year. The average occupancy is nine guests and the average stay is around three nights." These houses cost even more for New Year's Eve. "The price for these dates is 33.50 euros per person per night, which translates to 7% more than in the same period last year. The average occupancy rate is around eight people per booking, with a stay of 2.7 nights," says Zea.

As for Aehcos, the business association predicts that the 'average gross impact per guest accommodated' during the Christmas holidays will be 94.16 euros, which they consider "a figure very similar to that recorded in 2024, which stood at 94.26 euros". Aehcos president José Luque stresses that "the forecast of an occupancy rate of over 81% for New Year's Eve demonstrates the strong market response, driven largely by international tourism, which continues to place its trust in our destination for its climate, its hotel offer and service quality".

The destinations in the province with the highest hotel occupancy rates this Christmas are Benalmádena and Frigiliana-Torrox with 87.17% and 83% respectively. They are followed by other municipalities such as Fuengirola (82.2%), Mijas (73.7%) and Ronda at 50%.

Across Andalucía, hotels in the region expect to 68.9% of their rooms to be taken during Christmas week, between 25 and 31 December, according to a preliminary survey conducted among the sector by the regional ministry for tourism, headed by Arturo Bernal. "These expectations suggest that the positive trend in the region's tourism industry will continue through to the year end, as occupancy is 2.4% higher than at the same time last year," said Bernal.

The regional minister also highlighted the peak occupancy rate for New Year's Eve, at 77.2%, which is five percentage points higher than on the same night in 2024. By province, Granada, Malaga and Seville stand out, all exceeding 70% during the week and 80% on 31 December itself.