An amazing August for tourism

Tourism figures for Spain reached an all-time high in August 2014 when a staggering nine million overseas visitors arrived. It’s the highest ever figure for a single month and the equivalent of the entire population of Sweden coming to visit over a four-week period. Statistically, it’s an 8.8% increase on the previous year.

This is wonderful news for Spain’s tourism industry, given that 11% of the Spanish economy is derived from tourism. It’s also highly encouraging news for businesses in Marbella, where tourism plays an even more important role in the economy. But the results are not restricted to August alone. The Ministry for Tourism revealed that during January to July 2014 tourists spent €34.497 billion, which is also a record-breaking figure and 7% higher than in the same period for 2013.

British visitors have led the revival and in August some 2.14 million arrived in Spain. Our neighbours from France are also flocking south and almost 2 million spent their holidays in Spain, followed by 1.29 million Germans. The number of American tourists soared by 35% to reach almost 150,000. This is an interesting rise and we hope that US visitors continue to choose Spain as a destination and possibly even consider it as a location for a holiday home.

Andalucía’s figures have increased by 5.6% to 1.2 million, where flights into Málaga airport during August certainly echo the Ministry for Tourism’s numbers. Aena, the Spanish airport operator reports that 1.7 million people passed through Málaga airport in August, which is 6% more than in August 2103. The airport authorities also reported a rise in domestic passengers using the airport, although 85% of arrivals and departures come from international flights, with the UK, France and Germany taking up the bulk of the traffic. This is interesting to anyone working in property sales, because these countries are currently also leading investors in Costa del Sol properties.

Although it is now October, and Marbella is a little quieter for the moment, we’re confident that these record-breaking figures are set to continue and that we’ll see yet more ‘lift-off’ in the Marbella market in the coming year; this coupled with encouraging growth in the Spanish economy and a revitalised property market on the Costa del Sol, continues to provide encouraging indicators for the Marbella economy.