The different sectors of economic activity that make up the tourism industry in Marbella foresee recover pre-pandemic figures this summer of the year 2019, and highlight the return of international markets as the main travel players.

Thus, despite the fact that it continues to fly over the uncertainty generated by the coronavirus pandemic and a possible rebound in infections over the coming months, companies linked to tourism have started the high season with positive numbers and the reception of tourists like an oxygen balloon after two years of hiatus in activity.

The hotel sector registers at the beginning of the tourist season about levels similar to 2019which is taken as a reference, reaching in the month of May a 76.92% occupancy in Marbella hotelsaccording to the president of the Association of hoteliers of the Costa del Sol (Aehcos), José Luque.

The Costa del Sol city thus becomes one of the most popular destinations in the region during the month of May, a trend that points to being distributed in the month of August. Even so, the collective points out that the current forecasts for the summer “are far from those achieved in 2019”, although he hopes to obtain similar results.

The tour guide industry is also optimistic about the recovery and plans to redouble the demand for excursions in the city of Marbella “by 50%” compared to 2021 and “100% compared to 2020, and thus be able to reach the figures for 2019 since” the recovery of tourism exists “, according to the president of the Professional Association of Official Tourist Guides and Interpreters of the Andalusian Historic Artistic Heritage (APIT), Sergio Garrido.

The pandemic has affected this segment of the tourism industry, in which the 20% of the people who were engaged in this activity in the locality “has changed sectors”, mainly “young people who were not mature.

Garrido has highlighted the “increase in tourists that has been experienced in the municipality since April, highlighting that “luxury tourism returns to Marbella” and the visitors from destinations such as “America, Canada or the Middle East”.

In this way, he has been optimistic about the summer forecasts, despite the fact that currently “a decrease in pre-bookings on excursions” of national visitors, because they usually carry out their last minute shopping, while the foreigner makes them “in advance”.

On the other hand, he has highlighted that the demand for classic destinations such as “Ronda, Granada, Seville or Cordoba” for the hiring of guides -which are usually done through travel agencies-, even in the post-pandemic stage, in which “tourists are encouraged and culture is offered to them”.

The sector therefore anticipates that summer results will be positiveAnd what are you waiting for? improve in the months of September and October due to the drop in temperatures “if the war in Ukraine ends”, since in the months July and August visitors prefer to enjoy the sun and the beachyou have specified.

The industry of restoration is another of the pillars of the economy from the city of Marbella, with a wide gastronomic offer that is increasingly a claim for visitors who come to the town. The representative of the Association of Hoteliers of Malaga (MAHOS) in Marbella, Luis Quiroga, has highlighted the importance of gastronomy in the tourist offer of the destination.

Thus, the start of the high season in the hotel sector of the city has been positive, with a Easter and a few months of May and April that are being “very good”, an assessment that has also transferred to the summer forecasts. As he pointed out, the reserves are working “very well”, so that in the face of the peak months of the summer period it is expected “at least equal to 2019 for this summer, and even better”, the businessman pointed out.

Regarding the type of tourist who is betting on visiting the city, he pointed out that there are “lots of foreigners”, assuring that “before it was the English and the Germans, but now there are more nationalities”. In this sense, the presence of visitors “Scandinavians, many French, Belgians, English and Germans”. In addition, the hotelier has indicated that the British tourist who came to less during the years of the Covid-19 pandemic is recovering, clarifying that “he never failed and simply could not come”.

Quiroga has indicated that people have lost the fear of travelingas well as that this summer there will be in the city “a high percentage of foreign tourists, as Marbella has always been”. The claim of these visitors around the table continues to be “Spanish cuisine, skewered sardines or fried fish”.

The beachfront restaurant continues to be one of the main attractions of the Malaga coast for tourists and the local public, some establishments that are registering “a year at the height of 2019especially on weekends and long weekends”, as stated by the president of the Association of Entrepreneurs of Malaga Beaches (Aeplayas), Manuel Villafaina.

The hotelier has ensured that the start of the tourist season is going well“the weather on the beaches is fine” and “there is a lot of tourism”, mainly “Dutch, Germans and many English”, recovering the latter “by 30%”. Also “the Norwegians, the Italians and the Belgians are rising”, added the representative of the beach bars.

Summer is like this with some “very good prospects” in Marbella and in the rest of the province for the sector and an “excellent” season is expected, the businessman remarked, highlighting “the desire to go out and live on the beaches and in the open air” of the public, which in the city is characterized by having “high purchasing power”.

On the other hand, it has pointed to the existing obstacles such as the rising cost of supplieswhich will affect a increase in “prices” the difficulty of finding personnel or the involvement of the war in Ukraine.

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