Alex Trelinski
MALAGA tourist apartment bookings fell by 37,000 between July and November last year due to a reduction in domestic demand, according to economists.
Major protests took place in 2024 over ‘saturation’ of tourist areas and whether domestic residents were influenced by those demonstrations remains unclear.
Over the six-month period, 571,773 people stayed in apartments compared to 609,277 reservations in the same time band in 2023.
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The figures are based on licenced apartments and take no account of properties which are not regulated and therefore have no official data.
Malaga’s College of Economists puts the decrease down to demand falling from the rest of Spain.
Figures from the Tourist Apartment Occupancy Survey, between July and November 2024, showed 152,192 Spanish residents stayed in regulated accommodation- compared to 213,598 the previous year.
The picture was totally different for foreign visitors, with 419,581 travellers logged last year- up from 395,679 in 2023.
Another reason given by the economists for the reduction is that the number of registered apartments fell last year by 11,441.
Unsurprisingly August was the most popular month with 160,683 bookings, of which 51,612 were Spanish residents and 109,071 were foreigners.
November was the quietest with 74,550 tourists registered.
Out of that total, residents of Spain were 17,216 and foreigners 57,334.
Measures to deter tourism were, and still are, very unclear as to who is being targeted.
Spain is such a fabulous country to visit, and probably only those who are Spanish residents appreciate the variety of places to visit. Does this say that actually Malaga is not a leading destination for Spanish residents? Understandable!