Malaga hotels achieve 93% occupancy during the Fair thanks to last-minute customers

Positive feelings in the provincial hotel sector towards the end of the Feria de Málaga, partly thanks to the boost from last-minute customers. The Association of Hotel Business Owners of the Costa del Sol (Aehcos) expects to close this festival, covering nights from August 14 (the day before the Night of the Fireworks) to Sunday 24 (the day after the end of the events), ten nights in total, with an occupancy rate of 93.12%, a point above last year's. These figures represent an increase from the initial forecasts, which anticipated an end of the fair occupancy rate of 89.91%.

“Initially, from Aehcos we are satisfied with the occupancy results recorded this fair, as they slightly exceed the figures recorded last year and are also above our initial forecasts, so we can conclude that last-minute demand has increased bookings with good performance also during the second weekend of the fair,” stated Francisco Moro, the vice president of the hotel association for the capital.

In the previous edition, the capital's festivities lasted nine nights and achieved an occupancy rate of 92.17%. Aehcos has noted that both then and now the highest occupancy rates were recorded at the start of the Fair, coinciding with the night of the fireworks and the first weekend of the festivities.

Additionally, hotels were occupied at a rate of 96.70% from August 14 to 17 (three nights), while in 2024 they were at 95.61% from August 16 to 19 (three nights). For the following days, an occupancy rate of 90.40% is expected from August 22 to 24, 2025, i.e., until the end of the Fair, while last year the occupancy only reached 87.38% from August 23 to 25, the last weekend of the festivities.

Regarding the origins of the visitors staying in tourist accommodation during this 2025 Fair, 40% of the visitors were domestic, while international visitors accounted for 60%, figures very similar to those recorded in the previous festival.

Overnight stays on the rise in the province in July

Data from the province for July, released this Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), which shows a new increase in overnight stays by 1.8% year-on-year. It was a high season month in which not only this parameter continued to climb. Prices also rose by 4.6% annually, continuing an upward trend that began in spring 2021, after the pandemic halt.

The total number of overnight stays in the province exceeded 44.69 million in July, while in the total of the seven months, nights spent in hotels grew by 0.7% compared to the same period in 2024. The data also reflect an evolution of 1% in non-resident travelers during July, while among residents, hotel stays increased by 2.1%.

The average hotel revenue per occupied room (ADR) was 146.5 euros in July, up 4.6%; while the average daily income per available room (RevPAR, an indicator that better approximates profitability, as it is conditioned by both price and occupancy) reached 111.8 euros, with an increase of 5.6%. By categories, the ADR was 331.5 euros for five-star hotels, 153.4 euros for four-star, and 124.7 euros for three-star; while the RevPAR for these same categories was 244.5, 127.3, and 97.8 euros, respectively.

Marbella led in July both with the ADR, reaching 375.1 euros, and with the highest RevPar, at 296.3 euros. Thus, it surpassed the neighboring town of Estepona, which last June was the leader in both aspects.

Expanding the focus to what happened across the country, it is noteworthy that the average stay in Spanish hotels was 3.43 nights. Of the total overnight stays, 24.4%, nearly one in four, occurred in Andalusia, while Catalonia, with 14.5% of the total, and the Valencian Community, with 13%, are the other two autonomous communities with the most nights spent. However, non-residents preferred the Balearic Islands, which accounted for 34.4% of the total overnight stays. Immediately behind were Catalonia, with 20.4%, and the Canary Islands, with 18.1% of the total.

By tourist areas, the island of Mallorca recorded the highest number of overnight stays, with over 8.2 million, while the tourist spots with the most overnight stays were Barcelona and Madrid.

Among non-residents, the United Kingdom leads the ranking, as one in four overnight stays (26.1%) was made by a Briton, while Germany accounted for 14.5%. Following were France, the Netherlands, and Italy, which represented 8.1%, 5%, and 4.2% of the total, respectively.