"Catastrophic," "shocking," or "with incalculable losses": the reactions of the Costa del Sol tourism sector to the new high-speed train delay

After a long meeting in Málaga, Patricia Navarro, the president of the PP, along with leaders from various tourism industry groups of the Costa del Sol, was assessing the meeting with José Luque, president of the permanent commission of the Costa del Sol Tourism Forum, when they received the news that Málaga would not have the high-speed train line operational by Easter. Their surprised, upset, and even angry expressions spoke volumes before they even gave their first reactions. In these initial responses, descriptions such as "catastrophic," "shocking," and "with incalculable losses" were not lacking. The news spread like wildfire among the meeting attendees, and the anger increased.

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Navarro immediately demanded gestures from the Government towards the Costa del Sol and its main industry, starting with not raising the AP-7 toll rate, as is usual during Easter, and a compensation plan for the destination: "It's a cold shower. We had hopes that they would fulfill the commitment given," she said. Subsequently, Luque stated that "it's very bad news. A great terrible news that will have a very negative economic impact and, for now, incalculable." In fact, they had started the press conference by estimating tourism losses at 1.3 billion euros, counting on having high-speed service by the last date promised by the Government, March 23, the same week that Easter starts. "Now it's impossible to calculate what these first holidays of the year without train communication will mean," he insisted, pointing out that the Costa del Sol is no longer among the options for domestic tourists who thought about experiencing Andalusian Easter. "Seville, Córdoba, or Granada have high-speed trains and these will be the alternatives."

Luque focused on the fact that the calculation of 1.3 billion euros in losses was with the hope that high-speed service could be recovered by Easter. "Now that it's confirmed, we'll have to recalculate it. I insist it's not good news and it should make us reflect a lot on how expensive it is not to maintain the infrastructure. In the end, when we take stock of all this, we're surely going to lose much more than if things had been done properly," he said.

The president of the permanent commission of the Costa del Sol Tourism Forum insisted that "we are in the 21st century. We have means. We are not in a developing country. I believe work can be done 24 hours a day with all the necessary means to expedite. I believe the opportunity cost of fixing this and maintenance brings immense wealth. It's a simple math issue. Málaga depends on tourism and other sectors. It's important to fix this as soon as possible."

As soon as they received the news, the leaders of the various sector patronages who had attended the meeting began to react. "It's catastrophic," said the president of the Association of Beach Businessmen, Manuel Villafaina, who also specified that the forecast to resume the rail connection by next March 23 had already strongly impacted, and keeping Málaga without a train until May "is outrageous."

Likewise, the president of the Association of Tourist Homes of Andalusia (AVVA-Pro), Juan Cubo, did not hesitate to repeat three times in a row, as if on a loop, "it's shocking, shocking, very shocking." Disbelieving a new delay of the High-Speed and the effects of not having it during Easter, he stated that "60% of our clients during these dates are Spanish tourists. Going into May will generate more losses and increase uncertainty and distrust towards the train."

In the same vein, the president of the Association of Travel Agencies, Sergio García, advanced that "the confirmation of the high-speed problem beyond Easter has fallen like a cold shower, so at least, travel agencies need aid as soon as possible. Between the disconnection of the high-speed, the Gulf War, and the storms, we are facing a sales drop of more than 30% which implies being in losses and a very delicate situation for employment and definitive closure of many agencies."

Moreover, these professionals added that this disconnection by train is currently even more expensive due to the sharp increase in the price of gasoline and diesel, which will make car travel more expensive, and kerosene, which has raised plane tickets by 9%, according to the main associations of the sector.