Benalmádena begins the year at the top of the cities in the province preferred by tourism to enjoy their winter holidays, being the second municipality, after Malaga capital, with the most hotel occupancy registered this month of January. If the first month of the year has been a success, February bodes even better and, according to the Association of Hotel Entrepreneurs of the Costa del Sol (Aehcos), Benalmádena is the municipality in which the highest hotel occupancy is expected this month with 65 .31%, followed by Málaga capital with 62.47%, Mijas (46.53%), Ronda (29.85%) and Valle del Guadalhorce (27.83%).
According to the data compiled by the Association of Hotel Entrepreneurs of the Costa del Sol (Aehcos), the first month of the year closed with a hotel occupancy of 54.63%, a figure 12 percentage points higher than that registered the same month last year, but still 2.5 points below 2019, which closed with 57.29% occupancy, and which is still the reference year for recovery.
By municipalities, Málaga capital continues to be one of the municipalities that presented the most occupancy in the month of January with 67.40%; followed by Benalmádena with 39.50%; and Mijas, with 37.53%.
As usually happens at this time of year, 20% of the occupancy would correspond to national visitors while international visitors would occupy 80%. In addition, the hotel association has highlighted an increase in the rate of reservations and demand from the second quarter of 2023, before the start of the medium and high season.
“The closing data for January and forecasts for February still place us below 2019. It is true that the data exceeds 2022 whose first quarter was in terms of visitor data far removed from the pre-pandemic data, but we are noticing a rebound in reservations from April 2023 that, given the flexibility of the cancellation policies, we must be prudent in our estimates”, assured José Luque, president of Aehcos.
Benalmádena, reigns in February
Occupancy for the month of February is slightly lower than that registered last year. Specifically, Aehcos estimates reservations of 53.67%, of which 25% correspond to national visitors and 75% to international visitors.
As usually happens on this date, Valentine’s weekend serves as a spearhead to record positive data in establishments in the province, which usually organize different attractive programs for the celebration of these very important days. That is why it is estimated that February 11 and 12 will be the ones that register the greatest rebound in reserves.
Specifically, Benalmádena is the municipality in which the highest occupancy rate is expected with 65.31%, followed by Málaga capital with 62.47%, Mijas (46.53%), Ronda (29.85%) and Valle del Guadalhorce (27.83%).
Finally, Luque stressed that “despite the slight drop in the capacity of airlines on their international flights to Spain, we see how little by little we are getting closer to 2019 data. This desired return to normality is progressing and is becoming more and more close”.
