The month of August ended with a historic high for Malaga Airport, when 1,736,881 air travellers made it the busiest month on record, according to airport operators AENA. The number of air passengers increased by 3.3% last month, compared to the same month in 2014.
And it wasn't just on weekends when Malaga Airport saw a huge influx from travellers. Weekdays were just as busy. The larger number of travellers is a clear indication that domestic tourism is finally on the mend. Although high-speed AVE trains could provide Spanish holidaymakers with an alternative, at least 245,915 of them preferred to travel by air. This represents a 1.2% increase on August 2014.
New Tourism Markets are on the Rise
Most air passengers, however, came from foreign countries, and not just from traditional markets either. Air passengers arrived from the US and Russia, despite the turbulent political and economic situation in the latter of the two countries.
In fact, an increase of 37% was recorded in US air travellers, compared to August 2014. The Russian travel market grew by a surprising 22%, although it had to be noted that the previously preferred Spanish destinations, the Canary Islands and Catalonia, decreased by 2% respectively in favour of Andalusia.
Austrian air passengers also increased their flights to Malaga Airport - around 28.7% people more than last year chose the Costa del Sol as their preferred holiday destination. Poland's air passengers accounted for a 27.4% increase and the Czech Republic saw 25% more people travel to Malaga Airport this August than in the same month last year.
According to AENA, the largest share of the source markets is still held by the United Kingdom with 593,093 passengers, followed by 147,922 German holidaymakers and 126,532 French air travellers.
2015 already a Record Breaking Year
The first eight months of 2015 saw 9,883,473 passengers arrive and depart at Malaga Airport, another historic annual record for the airport. Even January 2015 saw a 10% increase in passengers, a month that is usually the quietest of the year.
When looking at all airports in Spain, pretty much all of them handled record breaking numbers of passengers, 24 million to be precise, a 4.7% rise on the same month last year.
Of this enormous influx of tourists, Andalucía welcomed 14,263,768 air passengers at its airports between January and August this year, representing a 5.1% rise on the same period in 2014.
Residential Tourism is Part of the Growth
According to AENA, September looks also to be another contender for historic records. And it's not just holidaymakers who have boosted the numbers. More house hunters are jetting across for potential holiday home purchases in resorts like Marbella, Nerja, Torremolinos or Malaga City itself.
Spanish house prices are still falling in some parts of the country, although in Marbella holiday home sales have been leading the recovery of the housing market. As bargain hunters are heading back to the sunny climes of the Costa del Sol, the main holiday season seems to be getting longer each year. Many parts of Spain, including the Costa del Col and Balearic Islands, expect the season to end in November this year - so there could still be more record breaking on the way at Malaga Airport.