Figures released this month show that Costa del Sol tourism grew by almost 40,000 hotel travellers during the month of April compared to figures recorded at the same time last year. This amounted to a total of 428,596 national and international travellers to the destination in that month alone. This figure puts it at the head of the 50 domestic destinations that have grown in absolute numbers in the same period, including the popular Spanish islands. The Malaga Provincial Council this month issued a statement, which also pointed out that in general, results from the first quarter of 2016 point to "a summer of historical figures" with an increase of visitors from 15 major tourist markets arriving in the Costa del Sol compared with the same period last year.
As expressed by the director general of Costa del Sol Tourism, Arturo Bernal, "none of the main markets in the province of Malaga have experienced a decline in hotel travellers during the last year. What is more, there are cases in which dramatic increases can be observed, such as in the case of Sweden, whose number of tourists travelling to the Costa del Sol has evolved by almost 40 percent. " Sweden was the fastest growing market in terms of hotel travellers in the first quarter of 2016, compared with data from the same period last year. Specifically, this is represents an increase of 36.7 percent, which has increased the importance of Swedish tourism for the Costa del Sol to eighth place, with more than 25,000 hotel travellers.
Other markets also exceeded the 30 percent growth mark in the period between January to April, such as "Poland, with an increase of 31.5 percent, and France and the United States, both with 31.4 percent, presenting magnificent indicators as far as hoteliers are concerned." said Bernal.
