: New projects to be carried out might create more than 14,000 hotel places which would raise the current supply by 10% – throughout the last ten years 50,000 new places have been formed
The Registro Turístico de Andalucía disposes right now of 76 new hotel projects for Malaga, which could add 14,289 places to the existing 150,000 beds. This means an increase of 10% would be attained, if all the projects were actually carried out. These numbers position the province of Malaga on top of Andalucia, followed closely by Cadiz with 60 new complexes and 13,021 places. Needless to say, this information proves apparently that there is still interest in enlarging the tourist industry, even though the sources emphasise that despite the fact of being registered, the projects will not necessarily be realized.
Is now the best moment to invest in the hotel business? Does the Costa del Sol need more hotels? The regional officer for the hotel and restaurant industry of the labour union Comisiones Obreras thinks the answer to both questions may be negative after all. According to him, it is possible that some of the projects stem from the period before the crisis and in any case, the hotel industry of the Costa does not need to grow much more because of the decline in utilization during the previous years.
In the last decade, nearly 50,000 new beds were created and even though the average numbers of overnight stays, tourists and expenses have grown, the establishments’ occupation has decreased constantly. At the moment, there are beds of each category and segment available all year long, so a logical consequence would be to build singular establishments that bring diversity on the market, like small-dimensioned rural or charming hotels in the interior of the province. Moreover, another problem is the dependence on the seasonal tourism, which provokes that a large number of complexes along the coast close during various months of the year, for example all-inclusive hotels which often only open 4 or 5 months (in summer, Malaga airport duplicates its traffic). This can lead to depreciation and causes low quality employment.
The profundity of the economical crisis in the UK, where most tourists on the Costa del Sol come from, has put the Andalusian hotel sector in a precarious situation. Particularly luxury establishments and 5 star hotels are suffering seriously, not only due to the known consequences of the economical crisis, but also owing to the weakness of the entreprises which administrate them, since most of them are not integrated in big companies and have for this reason more difficulties making contracts with the tour operators.
