Malaga is blossoming into a little Tourism Star

There’s no doubt about it, the city of Malaga has transformed itself with changes for the better visible everywhere – particularly in attitude towards the tourism industry. For tourism includes also semi-residential who visit the Malaga regions perhaps just a few times every year to stay in their holiday homes but leave a considerable amount of money in the local economy. The city attracts visitors not just because the nearest airport is based here for “commuters” from Germany or Britain, who own Spanish holiday villas or apartments in Marbella, Benehavis or Fuengirola.

Several important factors have put the city of Malaga and the Malaga province at the forefront after many years of languishing in the doldrums. There is the fact that this February Malaga acted as host and venue for Samsung’s famous World Forum event, where around 10,000 professionals from the world of computing, consumer electronics and mobiles came to discuss cutting edge gadgets about to hit the market.

The city also hosted the most important basketball event of the year, the annual Copa del Rey de Baloncesto, this February, which can be seen as a clear indicator that Malaga is now firmly established on the prestigious “events capital” map and chosen as a venue for important sporting events.

Since 2003 the number of overnight visitors staying in Malaga’s hotels has more than doubled, reaching almost one million last year, according to the Department for Tourism in Malaga’s figures, which in turn were based on the Institute of Statistics of Andalusia. Tourists also stayed for longer in Malaga’s hotels, allowing them to explore the city at leisure and to visit resorts like Marbella along the Costa del Sol.

As a result, far more investment has flowed into the city, where international and domestic hotel chains are now putting money into hotel projects. This has increased the city’s number of hotels from 24 in 2000 to 61 in 2013 and offers visitors some 10,000 available rooms to choose from.
 
Just like in Marbella and other parts of the Costa del Sol, visitors tend to look for first class amenities coupled with modern, comfortable and luxurious accommodation. In Marbella this has already led to older 3 and 4-star hotels being refurbished to 5-star level. It will be interesting to see if this trend will also transform Malaga’s hotel sector.

According to Damián Caneda, the councillor for Culture, Tourism and Sport, Malaga Province and Malaga City have become far more than just a stop-over destination on the way to or from the airport. The city pursued a strategic plan where culture and tourism should become the fundament on which Malaga’s economic fortunes should be based.

 “Malaga is to be known as a mega museum of huge cultural capacity to attract the attention of the world,” Caneda said, highlighting that there are no fewer than 30 museums in the city. He also mentioned that in the past decade the city has benefited from the “Guggenheim effect” thanks to the opening of the Picasso Museum, the Contemporary Art Centre and the Palacio de Ferias y Congresos de Málaga’ (the city’s congress centre), a venue which has hosted a  large number of national and international events.

Aiming to become one of the ten greatest city destinations in Europe by 2020, the tourist board must maintain a growth rate of 5% annually to achieve an ambitious target of 5 million visitors, exceeding last year’s 3.9 million visitors considerably.

Although many of these visitors would be day visitors travelling up from their holiday homes in Marbella, Torremolinos or Estepona for example, the city would see an increase in available hotels from the current 61 to around 80 over the next 6 years, raising the available room capacity by 42% to 13,500.

According to the council the list of important events to be held annually, such as film and theatre festivals or the Semana Santa event, will also be increased to provide visitors with an all-year-round destination, another trend followed by other tourist boards across Spain.

While destinations like Marbella have year-round appeal owing to their natural beauty, excellent choice of holiday properties and local amenities, airport cities like Malaga have had an uphill struggle during off peak seasons. Malaga, it seems, it about to turn the corner.