Slump in Tourism Figures Blamed on Recovery of Rival Destinations
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FREE COPY INTERVIEW THE NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHERN SPAIN A view of Official market leader Magaluf from Audited by PGD/OJD an ambulance September 7th to 13th 2018 www.surinenglish.com A paramedic based in the Mallorca resort talks of News 2 Health & Beauty 48 how alcohol and drugs Comment 22 Sport 54 turn holidays into tragedies Lifestyle 24 My Home 61 Food & Drink 40 Classified 64 P48 in English What To Do 42 Pastimes 70 WHEN AGE IS NO BARRIER Thousands of athletes aged 35 to 102 are competing in the World Masters Athletics Championships in Malaga P59 Norwegian high jumper Knut Henrik Skramstad competes in the 80 to 84-year-old category. :: MIGUE FERNÁNDEZ Health centre Slump in tourism figures blamed doctors announce strike to call for on recovery of rival destinations more staff Stoppages will start at July’s foreign visitor After three years of record-break- holidaymakers have been attracted about. Tourism professionals are some surgeries in the ing growth in tourism, the Costa del back to cheaper Mediterranean des- calling for fresh marketing strate- province of Malaga in the numbers on the Sol’s main industry has been brought tinations such as Turkey, Egypt and gies to attract back British visitors. down to earth this week as official Tunisia, previously abandoned due Promoting the Costa del Sol as a middle of October Costa del Sol were statistics show the first fall in for- to safety fears. A rise in the num- quality destination, which offers eign tourists in the month of July bers of Spanish tourists visiting the more than its rivals can, is a prior- Family doctors at the Andalusian down for the first since 2012. British, and to a lesser Costa del Sol has prevented an even ity for the industry, which aims to Health Service have announced in- time since 2012 extent German, visitor figures have worse decline and given the authori- to justify the area’s higher prices in dustrial action over the lack of medi- reduced most significantly, as many ties something to be optimistic the face of the competition. P2&3 cal staff at local surgeries. P6 The Guardia Civil tattoo ban is halted after Interior minister Fernando Grande- Marlaska, himself inked, stepped in to intervene P14 A sweet start to the Jewish New Year. The Costa’s Jewish community will be celebrating with pomegranates and star fruit this Sunday P36 22222222 September 7th to 13th 2018 NEWS SUR IN ENGLISH Tourism figures fall on the Costa del Sol in July for the first time since 2012 Hoteliers say a change in marketing strategy PILAR MARTÍNEZ is needed to win back [email protected] British tourists The area has lost British visitors to other These same reports for July last year showed increases of 8.5% in destinations such as visitors and 4% in stays. Turkey and Egypt which Private rental properties are not have made a comeback included in these figures but their results can be gauged by the holi- with bargain prices day rentals websites and the asso- ciation that represents them, whose MALAGA. As the summer comes president is Carlos Pérez Lanzac. to a close and industry analysts He paints a similar picture to the draw their conclusions from the INE results for hotels. “June was latest tourism statistics, it has be- more or less the same as last year. In come clear that the record-break- July owners had to drop prices to ing figures of 2017 were exceptional equal the number of nights as 2017, and difficult to equal. but we are confident that the August The July figures published by the figures will keep up with last year’s,” INE (National Statistics Institute) he said, adding, “We don’t expect to show that on the Costa del Sol the grow this summer, but to keep steady steep growth the tourism industry and maintain prices.” has experienced in the last three As with the Frontur figures, the years has come to a halt. fall in numbers of British and Ger- The latest Frontur study, which man tourists, who together make gauges the movement of tourists Holidaymakers on the beach in Marbella at the end of August. :: JOSELE-LANZA up 40% of the total, has been at the country’s frontiers, has blamed for the negative accommo- shown that the number of foreign fered this summer from falls in ar- Spending Survey), which measures and the average spend per day was dation results. visitors has fallen in all of Spain’s rivals of French and German tour- how much foreign visitors spend up 9.5% to 152 euros. In July passenger arrivals at tourist destinations, including An- ists, the two most important for- while on holiday in Spain. In this Malaga Airport were down 1.8% to dalucía. In fact in July, this region eign markets for the area after the case, though, Andalucía’s results Accommodation 2,146,000, although the seven- - Spain’s third in terms of foreign British, down 11.4% and 6.2%, re- were positive in July with a total The decline in tourism figures has month total up to July this year visitor numbers (after Catalonia spectively. income of 1.6 billion euros, an in- also been evident from the recently- did show a 2.1% increase to more and the Balearics) - saw its first fall While July is a significant month crease of 0.2%. This, according to published INE statistics on holiday than 10.8 million, according to fig- since 2012, a drop of 2.2% to a to- to study on its own, the totals for the survey, works out at an aver- accommodation. The figures take ures from the Spanish airports tal of 1.3 million. the first seven months of 2018 to- age spend per tourist per holiday into account types of accommoda- agency, Aena. In the first half of The reasons for the overall de- gether are more positive, with an of 1,209 euros, 2.5% more. The big- tion that are currently regulated by this year, though, Aena counted cline can be traced to a fall in Brit- increase of 1.1% and a total of more gest increase was in the average ex- the authorities - hotels, hotel apart- 4.6% fewer British visitors and 1.8% ish tourists, who make up 27.3% than 6.5 million tourists. The in- pense per day, which was up 10.6% ments, camp sites and rural holiday fewer Germans. of the region’s total. In July Spain crease for the same period of 2017 to 132 euros. cottages - and reveal falls of 0.5% as a whole received nearly 2.2 mil- was, however, as high as 10.3%. In Spain as a whole foreign tour- and 0.1% in visitors in June and July, Competition recovery lion British visitors, 22% of the ists spent 11.7 billion euros in July, respectively. The reason for this fall in interna- country’s total and a slump of 5.6% Tourist spending down 0.9% on the same month in Figures for overnight stays are tional visitors lies with the recov- on the same month last year. The INE also revealed this week 2017. The average spend per tour- also negative with drops of 1.8% and ery of rival Mediterranean destina- Andalusian resorts have also suf- the findings of the Egatur (Tourist ist per stay was 1,177 euros, up 4.2%, 0.5% in June and July. tions, especially Turkey. Not only September 7th to 13th 2018 3 SUR IN ENGLISH NEWS Sales of luxury goods have slowed this season in Marbella has the country come back with bar- Fernández remained optimistic, gain holiday prices, the devaluation however. He pointed out that the Local business owners of the Turkish lira with respect to number of Spanish tourists had in- say that the resort the pound has made holidays even creased making up for the fall in cheaper for the British. international visitors. should maintain the Other countries such as Bulgaria The president of the provincial quality of its services to and Croatia are also gaining ground, government’s organisation Tur- justify its higher prices in also offering cheaper holidays. In- ismo Costa del Sol, Elías Bendodo, dustry professionals have suggested said that the area should stick to the face of competition that other factors, such as the its strategy of setting itself apart weather and even jellyfish could from its main competitors such as :: NIEVES CASTRO have had an effect on British tour- Tunisia, Turkey, Greece and Egypt, MARBELLA. Businesses provid- ists’ choice of destination. as well as from other Spanish des- ing luxury goods and services in tinations, by focusing on the qual- Marbella have reported an end to The Spanish to the rescue ity of its services and attractions. the steep growth in sales seen in The decrease in overall tourism fig- “That is our main strength,” he the last few years. ures on the Costa del Sol would said. Owners of designer boutiques, have been even worse this year if restaurants, clubs, hotels or firms it weren’t for the visitors from Hoteliers are less optimistic offering leisure experiences say other parts of Spain. The Andalu- The president of the Association that their figures for June and July sian coastline has fared better than of Costa del Sol hoteliers (Aehcos), have been worse than those of 2017, the island destinations - both Ca- Luis Callejón Suñé, warned that but were hoping that an increase naries and Balearics - where pro- further declines were expected in in August would save the season.