Staff Reporter
A STUDY by a website specialising in vacation rentals has identified the municipalities in Spain that are most at risk from overcrowding by tourists, and several of them are in Malaga province.
The report from Holidu, which is based on an exhaustive study of the number of tourist arrivals in 2023 compared with the local population, shows that Torremolinos is one of these cities at risk.
According to the report, which was detailed by La Opinion de Malaga, Torremolinos receives 1,201,138 tourists a year, of whom 778,016 are from Spain.
With a population of 70,434 inhabitants, that works out at a whopping 17.72 tourists per inhabitant.
Read more: This historic town has the worst case of tourism ‘massification’ in Spain, figures reveal
Meanwhile, Nerja counts on 210,387 tourist visits a year, meaning that there are 9.92 visitors per inhabitant.
Next comes Benalmadena, with 624,299 tourists, which is 9.28 per inhabitant, and then Ronda, which sees 274,832 visitors a year, 7.99 per inhabitant.
Fuengirola, Estepona and Marbella also appear on the list, with 5.27 to 6.15 tourist visitors per inhabitant.
Outside of Malaga province, Sant Llorenç des Cardassar tops the list, with the Mallorca municipality racking up a huge 73.1 tourists per inhabitant.
This year is seeing unprecedented protests in Spain calling for a new model of tourism, as locals struggle to cope with rising property prices, antisocial behaviour and the gentrification of neighbourhoods.
Demonstrations have been held so far in 2024 in popular destinations such as the Canary Islands, Malaga city, the Balearics and Barcelona.
