FREE COPY THE NEWSPAPER FOR The story of SOUTHERN SPAIN Palmolive, Official market leader Audited by PGD/OJD Malaga’s queen May 19th to 25th 2017 www.surinenglish.com of punk News 2 What To Do 46 Paloma Romero formed 24 51 Comment My Home the first all-girl punk band Lifestyle 25 Sport 56 Health & Beauty 37 Classified 62 in 1970s London 28&29 in English Food & Drink 43 Pastimes 70 Antonio Banderas pulls out of city arts project due to criticism The Malaga-born actor has given up his bid to turn a corner of the city into a theatre and culture centre Antonio Banderas said in a letter this week that he was abandoning his plans to turn the old Astoria cinema building into a centre for the perform- ing arts. His project, in conjunction with architect José Seguí and the firm behind the Starlite festival, had won an open competition for ideas and was now expected to bid for the con- tract to build and manage the centre. Criticism from opposition groups and “insults and humiliating treatment” on social media have led the actor to THE END OF pull out to the shock of many. P8 AN ERA “I’m sorry if I let you down.” Spain’s Eurovision BECKONS singer apologises for his last place, while Portugal celebrates P25 Malaga CF legends Martín Demichelis and Weligton call it a day in an emotional week for the club P61 Demichelis (left) embraces Weligton after Wednesday’s press conference. :: SALVADOR SALAS :: AFP Owners register 33 properties a Devoted to music . The director and conductor of Collegium Musicum day as tourist accommodation prepares for their spring concerts P26&27 The number of places available in rented Ten months after the first regulations could soon overtake hotel bookings AVE shortcut that will governing rented tourist accommo- and the industry is calling for these cut high-speed journey holiday homes in the province of Malaga dation came into force in Andalucía, figures to be included in official tour- properties are being added to the reg- ism statistics. While more investors between Malaga and is catching up with the total of hotel beds ister at a rate of 33 a day in the prov- are attracted to buying tourist prop- Seville is one step closer ince of Malaga. The volume of tour- erties in Malaga and the Costa del Sol, to construction P6 ists using rented accommodation hotels remain as full as ever. P2 101 kilometres in 24 hours in Ronda Thousands take part in the Legion’s gruelling race P56 22222222 May 19th to 25th 2017 NEWS SUR IN ENGLISH An average of 33 properties a day are registered as tourist accommodation Map of tourist accommodation in Andalucía More than half of the Cordoba PILAR properties are in Jaén MARTÍNEZ Malaga province [email protected] Seville Huelva Granada Almeria By the end of this summer, there could be Malaga more places in rented holiday accommodation Cadiz than in hotels on the The image shows the Costa del Sol high concentration (in red) of properties on la Costa del Sol. MALAGA. It is now nearly ten months since new regulations were introduced to ensure that properties which are used as holiday accommo- Hotel places compared with rental accommodation dation are registered with the Anda- lusian tourism authorities, and fears Town Hotel places Rental places % rentals/hotels that this would have a negative effect on the sector appear to have been un- BENALMÁDENA 9,681 4,976 51.40 % founded. Recently released figures CASARES 200 681 340.50 % show that an average of 33 proper- Malaga city is becoming a popular rental destination. :: SUR ESTEPONA 7,334 4,648 63.38 % ties in Malaga are being registered FUENGIROLA 7,514 2,943 39.17 % every day: in other words, about 1,000 Malaga city as a place to invest in pro- MALAGA 9,143 7,284 79.67 % a month. A third of owners of perty to rent out to tourists. MARBELLA 12,276 11,166 90.96 % In Malaga province nearly 11,000 The popularity of the Costa del Sol MIJAS 1,638 7,171 437.79 % properties have been registered sin- holiday properties in and the increased interest in Malaga NERJA 2,348 5,921 252.17 % ce the new regulations came into for- Malaga do not live in city is the key. More than half of all RINCÓN VICTORIA 551 748 135.75 % ce ten months ago, providing the province holiday rental properties in Andalu- TORREMOLINOS 19,285 2,077 10.77 % accommodation for 54,152 tourists. cía are in Malaga province, and in TORROX 1,081 858 79.37 % That figure is even more impressive some places such as Mijas and Nerja VÉLEZ MÁLAGA 995 1,026 103.12 % when taking into account that there they already exceed the number of Source: Junta de Andalucía’s Ministry of Tourism are 79,029 hotel places available in Property owners are realising that hotel places, by 437 per cent and 252 the province (not including hostels). this sector, which some exploited per cent respectively. The tourism authorities say that if illegally in the past, can be a way of In comparison, Torremolinos re- minar that rental properties ought Not everybody is happy about the the trend continues at its present rate, earning money with little risk invol- mains primarily a destination for ho- to be included in public tourist pro- increase in rented holiday accomo- by the end of this summer the num- ved. It is now, therefore, attracting tel holidays. However, the holiday motion campaigns as hotels are. dation, however. The tourism autho- ber of beds available in rented investors: the figures show that 33 rental business has not really affec- Meanwhile hoteliers have called rities have received 82 complaints in accommodation will equal those in per cent of owners of registered ho- ted hotels in general, as occupancy for rental property figures to be in- the past ten months, but only two hotels or even exceed them. liday properties in Malaga province levels remain high and many of them cluded in the region’s overall tourism were from dissatisfied clients. Many Internet platforms which put po- do not live in the region, and it is are often fully booked at weekends. statistics, due to the volume of tourists were from neighbours who were dis- tential tourists in touch with the thought likely that more than 3,000 It is evident that each of these two choosing this type of accommoda- turbed by noise from the visitors du- owners of holiday properties confirm owners of holiday accommodation sectors has a loyal following. tion. At present hotels are obliged to ring their holiday. There were also the high occupancy figures and that are not even in Spain. In fact, the Sun- Earlier this week representatives pass on their tourism figures to the accusations of properties being ren- the holiday rental business can be day Times recently dedicated a large of the big rentals plaforms such as National Institute of Statistics every ted out illegally, and not complying highly profitable. part of an article to the potential of Airbnb and Homeaway said at a se- month, but rental properties are not. with the regulations. May 19th to 25th 2017 3 SUR IN ENGLISH NEWS The western Costa Real estate sales at their highest since del Sol boasts 86 per cent of all 2008, with a hundred a day in March luxury properties in Andalucía The construction sector :: HÉCTOR BARBOTTA on the Costa del Sol is MARBELLA. Before the econo- mic crisis, 51 per cent of proper- showing clear signs of ties costing more than one million revival, with more projects euros in Andalucía were in the approved and a 13 per cent western part of Malaga province, but since the property bubble burst rise in employment in the and prices plunged there has been first quarter a dramatic change in the housing market: 86 per cent of luxury pro- :: NURIA TRIGUERO perties in Andalucía are now in MALAGA. Property sales in the pro- the triangle formed by Marbella, vince are at their highest since 2008, Estepona and Benahavís. the year when the real estate bubble The figures, which show the burst, according to statistics regar- strength of this section of the mar- ding the Transfer of Property Rights ket even in the most adverse con- in March which were published last ditions, were revealed recently at week. the annual forum of the DOM3 The figures show that 2,925 pro- association, which called for new perties changed hands during that action to take advantage of the month, which is almost 100 a day opportunities for wealth and jobs and the highest since the month of generated by this sector. It also ex- April nine years ago. The increase pressed concern that Marbella is compared with March 2016 was 37 missing out on investment becau- per cent, and the accumulated se of the length of time it takes growth during the first quarter of Marbella council to grant licences. this year was 19.6 per cent. Last year the average price of It appears that March was a spec- property in Marbella, Estepona tacular month for property sales in Nearly 100 properties a day were sold in March this year. :: SUR and Benahavís was the sixth Spain as a whole, with a 26.9 per highest in Spain, but this triangle cent year-on-year increase bringing of growth has also speeded up this twice as many people attended as property market, because their sala- is seeing major growth and there the total to 40,461, the highest re- year.