Over 60,000 people celebrated Pride in Torremolinos. FRANCIS SILVA

Torremolinos celebrates a record-breaking Pride event

It surpassed even the most optimistic expectations and broke the attendance record, with over 60,000 people taking to the streets of the Costa del Sol town

Monday, 6 June 2022, 14:42 | Updated 14:57h.

The streets of Torremolinos were packed on Saturday, as tens of thousands of members of the LGBT community came together to celebrate the 2022 Pride parade, the first to take place since the start of the pandemic.

The number of attendees increased some 10,000 on the 2019 edition, with 50,000 turning up on that occasion, and the 15 floats that toured the streets at the weekend made it nearly impossible to move around the town.

Visibly emotional after all the floats had gone by, a spokesperson for Torremolinos' Association of Gay Traders, Antonio Domínguez, defined Pride 2022 as "historic", and that nobody expected so much support.

There are many keys to the success Pride has had in Torremolinos. It's not just another tourist attraction;, even the locals have fully committed to the annual event.

LGBT tourism is a year-round market, but is specifically important this week, with people from all around the world travelling to the Costa del Sol. All tickets to events were sold out, and the weekend even surpassed Semana Santa in terms of numbers.

That makes Pride an especially profitable event, one that is capable of filling up all the bars, restaurants and hotels and also bringing employment and wealth to the town.