Hotels on the Costa del Sol improve their expectations in the final stretch of Holy Week without reaching the occupancy of 2025

Neither the desire to travel nor the forecasts of sunny weather and beach enjoyment have been the key factors that have managed to improve the expectations of hoteliers in Malaga in this final stretch of Holy Week. Industry professionals assert that "a sharp drop in prices," due to decreased demand from the disconnection of high-speed rail, has been the lure that has enabled last-minute bookings. And yet, they agree that occupancy levels will not reach those of last year during these first holidays. It is worth remembering that the first report from the Association of Hotel Entrepreneurs of the Costa del Sol (Aehcos) indicated that establishments would fill an average of 73.9% of their rooms from March 27 to April 6. This figure contrasts with the 80.18% registered last year and the 75.98% of 2024, considered the worst in history due to the prominence of rains that prevented most processions from taking place and caused a flood of cancellations from those who planned to enjoy the sun and beaches. For the peak days of this Passion Week, considered the period of highest demand, from April 2 to 6, hoteliers forecasted an occupancy of 78.03%, below the 83.22% recorded in 2025 and the 87.81% achieved in 2023.

Now, at the midpoint of these holidays, the vice president of Aehcos, Javier Hernández, states that the situation is very diverse, but generally, in the first part of this Holy Week, from last Friday of Sorrows to Holy Wednesday, the forecasts of a sales decline have been met and it is in the final stretch where some improvement in occupancy levels has been achieved after a price drop that will not allow reaching last year's records. "Prices have dropped and until today, Holy Wednesday, the rebound is minimal and not widespread. Basically, what was predicted has been fulfilled. In this second survey among professionals, it is noted that from Holy Thursday onwards, last-minute bookings have worked better, although they assure that they have only closed 50% of the sales registered in the previous days last year," he says, with the caveat that in 2025 these last-minute bookings were formalized by paying more per room. Hernández criticizes that "there is no availability at all from this Holy Wednesday to Easter Sunday to travel from Madrid to Malaga," while warning of the high cost of plane tickets. "A Mexican tourist has told us that the ticket from Madrid to Malaga cost him more than from Mexico to the Spanish capital," he points out.

In this regard, Gonzalo Armenteros, president and co-founder of Soho Boutique Hotels, advances that "initially in Malaga it is costing us to fill up. Last-minute bookings work very little, although it is true that the location of our hotels allows us to nearly reach full occupancy. However, the price has fallen in Malaga compared to previous years. The issue of high-speed rail has had a significant impact, and the slowdown in bookings has led us to lower prices compared to other years to achieve similar occupancy." On this aspect, several hoteliers in the capital assure that room prices for the week after these first holidays of the year are higher than those offered during Holy Week.

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flights will operate today, Holy Thursday, at Malaga airport.

The head of Aehcos in Malaga, Francisco Moro, confirms this situation and assures that "people have decided to come by car to not miss Holy Week" and he notes that "we never fill the hotel parking during these dates, and this time, we have run out of free spaces because many people from Madrid have traveled in their personal vehicles."

For his part, Félix Zea, co-founder of the Ruralidays platform, one of those that gathers the most rural tourist accommodations in Spain with more than 2,800 accommodations available in its portfolio, confirms this improvement in forecasts, but remembers that this segment is outside the impact of the paralysis of high-speed rail because the inland tourist travels in their own car to reach their final destinations directly. "We have gone in the first part of Holy Week from an average occupancy of 69% to 72%, and in the peak days that start now, from Holy Wednesday to Easter Sunday, from 82% to 84.5%. We have an average improvement of 2.5% with last-minute bookings across the province," he states.

Malaga airport faces this Holy Thursday and Good Friday the busiest traffic days of this Holy Week with a movement on the runways of 575 and 576 flights, respectively. It is worth noting that this infrastructure anticipates less movement of planes than last year during these first holidays. The data provided by Aena indicate that 5,996 flights will operate, compared to the 6,040 that did so in the same period in 2025. Of the landings and takeoffs scheduled by the 51 airlines currently connecting the Costa del Sol with 144 cities around the world, 4,780 are international flights, compared to 1,216 with departure or arrival at Spanish airports.