Costa del Sol loses more than 420,000 stays in tourist accommodation in first five months of year

Malaga province and the Costa del Sol has had neither the expected nor the best start to the year for tourism. Data from Spain's national institute of statistics (INE) has found that, in addition to the cooling of national holidaymakers visiting the area, the number of bookings made by tourists in hotels, flats, campsites and rural houses, if lumped together, suffered a decline for the first time.

In the first five months of the year, up to May 2025, the Costa del Sol lost 420,000 stays compared to the same period last year, which is a drop of 3.8% to 10.5 million. It shoud be noted that the INE does not include the activitiy of unregulated tourist dwellings in these statistics.

From January to May, a total of 2,955,404 tourists stayed on the Costa del Sol, representing a fall of 4%, that is precisely 121,843 fewer guests. This decline is determined by the arrival of 10.6% fewer Spanish tourists and 0.5% fewer foreign holidaymakers.

Only inland areas have escaped this downward trend thanks to national tourism. In this sector, all indicators are in the green, with increases of 47.4% and 42.9%, respectively, in arrivals and stays by Spanish tourists. This is also the case in the camping sector, where, on the other hand, the number of foreign visitors fell by up to 7.7%.

Hotels and regulated tourist flats have taken the biggest hit, with only a 2.7% increase in average stays. This sector of the tourism industry accounted for more than 328,000 of the 420,000 bookings lost in the first five months of the year.

Even so, the Costa del Sol continues to be the third coastal province in Spain in terms of tourist arrivals in the overall regulated offer and the fourth in terms of overnight stays. The statistics show that this downward trend is also replicated in the balance of the Balearic Islands, with 6.7% fewer tourists in May, and 3% fewer overnight stays. Gerona, Cadiz and Granada also showed a negative evolution.