The Costa del Sol closes the summer with

The Costa del Sol has experienced another summer that has brought "historic figures" in terms of tourists, revenue, and employment to these Mediterranean locales. This was announced by the President of the Provincial Council and Costa del Sol Tourism, Francisco Salado, during a review in which "the summer season closed with moderate growth in all key indicators, reaching historic figures in arrivals, income, and employment," as he emphasized. According to the data presented this Friday, between the months of June and August, the Costa del Sol received 6,235,000 tourists, representing an increase of 1.12% compared to the same period last year. In turn, tourism activity generated an economic impact of 8.915 billion euros, which is a 1.86% increase and "consolidates the positive trend of recent years." Regarding air transport, the Malaga-Costa del Sol Airport recorded 5.5 million passengers between June and September (+7.1%), of which 4.6 million were international (+6.3%) and 910,000 were domestic (+11.3%). In Salado's opinion, "these data confirm the strength of the main source markets and the growing attractiveness of the destination in the domestic market." Regarding accommodation, more than 2.6 million travelers stayed in hotels (+1.9%), generating 10.1 million overnight stays (+2.5%). The hotel occupancy rate was 73.1%, which represents a decrease of 0.4 percentage points compared to the same period last year. However, the average stay remained stable at 3.81 days, a figure slightly higher than last summer (+0.02 days). At the same time, the Costa del Sol Tourism report highlighted that "the behavior of hotel prices was also favorable: the ADR (average daily rate) stood at 178.70 euros (+10.9%), and the RevPAR (revenue per available room) reached 150.28 euros (+11.5%). "The most significant increases occurred in higher category establishments, reflecting the evolution towards a model of higher quality and profitability," Salado specified. During the summer period, tourism employment reached 154,652 affiliates to Social Security, a 3.0% increase compared to 2024, "with particular dynamism in the restaurant and accommodation sectors," Salado emphasized. "Never before has so much employment been generated in the various economic subsectors, which shows that tourism continues to be the main engine of social and economic development in the province," added the President of the Provincial Council. During his speech, Salado also mentioned that "for the last quarter of 2025, forecasts point to a 5.4% increase in flight offerings, with 137 cities connected, 50 operating airlines, and 3.47 million seats scheduled." In this regard, the provincial president also detailed that "eight out of ten will correspond to international connections, with the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Italy among the main source markets." However, looking to the immediate future, the President of Costa del Sol Tourism remained cautious, expressing himself in these terms: "We are optimistic because the data encourages us, but also cautious in the face of the international economic context," he stressed. During the press conference where he presented the tourist balance of this last summer, Francisco Salado, President of the Provincial Council and Costa del Sol Tourism, insisted that "tourism continues to bring good news to the Costa del Sol." "The balance of the summer is very positive: we have broken records in tourists, income, and employment, maintaining sustained and balanced growth; these data show the solidity of the destination and the joint work of the public and private sectors to continue strengthening our main industry," Salado emphasized. In turn, the head of Costa del Sol Tourism reiterated that "the main data from the summer of 2025 confirm the consolidation of the destination as one of the main benchmarks of national and international tourism," as "the balance continues to show growth in most of the different tourism indicators." "Costa del Sol Tourism thus reaffirms its leadership as a competitive and sustainable destination, advancing towards deseasonalization and the consolidation of quality employment in the province," Salado defended in an appearance accompanied by the managing director of Costa del Sol Tourism, Antonio Díaz.