Marbella tourism back to pre-crisis figures

12 January 2015

Marbella has experienced the best year in recent history, as far as tourism is concerned. A report released by Marbella’s town council shows a significant upward transfer in overnight stays –up to 3 million in total-, indicating that nearly two and a half million tourists stayed in the town during 2014. These figures show that Marbella is now back to where it was before the crisis began in 2008, in terms of growth. We have witnessed an accelerated growth in the number of tourists, both national and international, who visited Marbella.

After many years of decline, Marbella has recovered a significant market share during 2014 both inside and outside Spain. Specifically, the number of tourists has increased by 10% this last year when compared to 2013, foreigners accounting for 5.15%. The decrease in numbers of Spaniards visiting the town the past few years is no longer a dire problem due to the fact that during 2014 there has been a significant increase of Spanish tourists - up 20.5% when comparing with the previous year’s numbers. This change is closely related to the general economic recovery and has been possible thanks to the new ability to travel at lower cost that Spanish families have experienced over the last year. A good guage of recovery has been the ability of more of those staying in Marbella to use taxis rather than taking public transport, with many taking a taxi transfer from Malaga airport to Marbella.