Costa del Sol Tourism Hits Record High in 2024 – What to Expect in 2025

Never before did so many tourists land at the Málaga-Costa del Sol airport and stay at hotels across the coast. Not only this, but revenue, employment and profitability in the local tourist sector considerably outpaced the growth in arrival numbers – the result of a multi-year drive to promote quality and luxury tourism. 

It’s official: 2024 was the best year ever for the tourist sector on the Costa del Sol. Here are the figures:

• 14,47 million visitors – an increase of 3,17% over 2023.
• 12,4 million transits at Málaga airport – up by 11,7% over 2023.

The growth was driven exclusively by the international market, which grew by 6,9% year on year, offsetting a 7,5% decline in the domestic market. Given the weighting between the two, it still produced an overall increase in tourist numbers, with some of the traditional markets showing impressive growth:

• UK – still top with 1,18 milions visitors (up 7,2% on 2023).
• Germany (+12,8%).
• Netherlands (+7,3%).
• Ireland (+19,9%).

And new markets also expanding rapidly, such as the USA, from where visitor numbers grew by 26,1% over 2023 to reach 220.615 in total – and this market continues to expand rapidly.

These figures are not just impressive in their own right, but they represent all-time records, since 2024 was another record-breaking year that continues to set the bar higher and higher. But quite apart from the impressive scale of the numbers involved, there is another story emerging from the statistics that have been published from 2024. They tell a story of an even more rapid increase in the economic indicators involved in this sustained tourism boom than the actual growth in tourist numbers, indicating a clear upmarket movement:

• ADR (Average Daily Rate) per room reached €298,60 in Marbella, the highest amount ever, making it the most expensive destination in the country.
• RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room) reached an average across the region of €94,85, an increase of 6% over the previous year.
• Producing a total revenue of €21.22 billion – up 10,9%.
• Raising hotel profitability by 6%.
• And creating 7% more jobs in the sector, to reach a total of 137.408.

All of this paints a picture of a more than healthy tourist sector. Indeed, it is positively booming, and the strategy of the past years to promote quality, luxury tourism seems to have paid off, resulting in a record both in quantitative and qualitative terms.

What will 2025 bring?

So, it’s well-established now that 2024 was a historic year for tourism on the Costa del Sol – the best ever, at least in quantitative terms. Now thoughts turn to the immediate future. What are the prospects for 2025? Where will it go from here, will there be increased growth and development, more job creation and continued rising prices and profits? Has the region even got the capacity to absorb more growth, or have we reached a ceiling? Is this as far as it goes, or will the coast (and Marbella in particular) eventually transition to a market with fewer but very high-end visitors?

There is a certain logic to this reasoning, but if it happens it is a process that will take years to materialise. In the shorter term, it looks like the Costa del Sol is adapting to the demand and expanding its capacity. Interest in new hotels is growing apace with calls for the reduction in holiday apartments and Airbnb accommodation, as well as the fact that more and more residential communities are voting to block further tourist licences within their complexes. In other words, the stock of private short term holiday accommodation could well fall in the coming years, and hotel owners and investors are set to make up the difference with projects such as:

• ME by Melia in Marbella (to open in Puerto Banús).
• Conrad Hotel & Resort (part of the Hilton chain), opening later in the year in Casares.
• Fairmont Hacienda in San Roque, which opened its doors in February.

Over the past year, the stock of regulated accommodation has risen by 13.5% to 659,030 beds, indicating that supply is already responding to strong demand. The same is true for airlines, which are expected to increase the number of available seats on routes to Málaga by 10.7% in the first four months of 2025.

This highlights the Costa del Sol’s ability to support further expansion. However, to sustain this growth, infrastructure improvements—particularly in road networks, traffic management, and public parking—will be essential. It therefore seems that, from a local perspective at least, 2025 is set to see continued growth.

Of course, whether there will be ongoing growth in 2025 and if it will maintain the levels of 2024 depends not only on supply, but also on demand. The latter seems almost insatiable in recent times, and the unwavering appeal of the Marbella area is growing outwards from its traditional core markets in Europe and the Middle East to also include rapidly expanding ‘new’ markets such as Eastern Europe, Morocco and North America. Future growth potential could come from the likes of Asia and Latin America, but even European markets show no diminished appetite for that which our coast has to offer. Some cite international tensions, political and economic insecurities, but if anything the situation appears to be improving somewhat, and so far instability in other quarters has generally served to drive visitors away from other areas to the still and warm waters of the Costa del Sol.

It seems therefore that this region will continue to enjoy another bumper tourist season – not just during summer but throughout the year, albeit perhaps at a slightly reduced rate of growth. As Francisco Salado, President of the Málaga Provincial Council and Costa del Sol Tourism says:

"We cannot be complacent. We must continue working to reduce seasonality and consolidate a tourism model based on quality, profitability and job creation.”

Pia Arrieta, 17 Mar 2025 - News