Saturday 16 April 2016

Andalucia plans to attract golfers from Scotland


Andalucía plans to attract golfers from Scotland

The South Coast is also known as Costa del Golf. However, it is known so because of a reason! This coast boasts of some of the best golf courses and golf property for sale and is known to attract a few million golfers from all over the world yearly. The most famous golf courses in Andalucía include San Roque, La Zagaleta and the Royal Valderrama, which suddenly shot into limelight as it is set to host the Spanish Open during April.
The Ministry of Tourism and Sports in Spain and Andalucía, in a bid to promote the golf courses of its country, attended the Scottish golf show held in Glasgow, to showcase the best golf courses Andalucía has to offer to golfers.
In the event held between March 18th to 20th, the Ministry was able to promote the golf courses and facilities available in Andalucía, thereby attracting a significant number of golfers from Scotland.
This show saw several exhibitors from all over the world showcasing their courses and attracting golfers. It also showcased the largest driving range, which is one of a kind and located in Scotland. The Professional Golfers’ Association operates this and as a part of the show, several professionals of PGA participated and gave lessons about golf throughout the show. This show saw an attendance of 18,000 people and the numbers are expected to increase this year.
The show organizer of last year, Tom Lovering stated that the Scottish Golf Show turned out to be one of the most successful and comfortable consumer golf show held in UK and they continued to conduct the event in a much larger scale attracting more participants next year.
A total of 450,000 visitors came to the hundred odd golf courses in Andalucía during 2014, which saw a growth of 1.3% when compared to the past year. The growth turned out to be the highest for this year and ever since 2010, the cumulative growth stood at 7%, making it a healthy growth.
Golfers who come to Andalucía stay for an average of 11.9 days, which is three days more than an average tourist who visits this country. Also, they end up spending more, contributing to the economy due to tourism. Their average spending went up by 2.6% in 2014 and the average spending per day per person stood at 88.43 Euros. This is 30 Euros more than the average spending of an individual in Andalucía, thereby pumping in more revenues to the economy of Andalucía.

Buying golf property in Andalucía will continue to be a fantastic investment for buy to let or as a second or holiday home.








Friday 15 April 2016

Andalucian Airports in Spain see a record growth in passenger traffic!


Andalucían Airports in Spain see a record growth in passenger traffic!

The year 2016 is seeing a major boost to the number of tourists visiting Andalucía and the numbers just seemed to increase in February too!

Malaga Airport
All the airports combined of Andalucía saw a total of 1,243,314 passengers flying in a total of 14,760 flights in February. Compared to the previous year, the number of tourists has jumped up by 16.2%, with the count being 2,374,543 passengers.

Malaga

The statistics revealed by Spanish Airports and Air Navigation (AENA), Malaga was the busiest airport in the region during the first two months of 2016 and the total traffic was 1,527,221 passengers. This is a 15.7% rise when compared to the passengers it handled in the last year during the same period.

A total of 12,646 registered flights operated in the Malaga area, making it the highest for this region. Also, this indicated a growth of 11.9% when compared to last year.

As per officials from the Costa del sol Malaga airport, the airport continues to attract more traffic and the trends have been the same since the end of 2015. Overall, the passenger traffic went up by 17.8% and the number of flights operated increased by 14.5% when compared to the statistics of previous year.

Other Regional Airports

Seville stood at the second position which handled 599,541 passengers, making it the second busiest airport. The rise compared to previous year was 15.5% and the number of flights operated increased by 3.3% over the past year, making it handle a total of 6,355 recorded flights.

Granada Jaen or Fedrico Garcia Lorca saw 107,734 being handled, which was a 12% increase and Almeria airport handled 78,484 passengers,  registering a whopping growth of 35.4%.

In the case of Jerez de la Frontera or Cadiz, the increase was 21.3%, attracting passenger traffic of 60,137. However, only Cordoba was the airport in Andalucia to report a fall of passengers handled by 3.4%, taking the count to 876 passengers.

Passengers

A high number of passengers took commercial flights, accounting for 790,747 of the total passengers. The increase in international travelers was 16.8% when compared to the statistics of 2015.

Domestic flights accounted for 146,834 passengers, which represents a 21.7% increase in the number of travelers. The domestic flights operated in Spain also went up by 17.9%.

UK attracted the largest number of international passengers and the count stood at 226,819. Germany stood second with a total of 68,753 passengers, while Netherland came third with 46,908 passengers.

 2016 looks set to be a record year for holiday makers and northern Europeans looking to buy property in the Costa del Sol.
Costa-del-Sol-Malaga-airport-sees-record-growth

Thursday 14 April 2016

La Concha, the splendid shell mountain at Marbella


La Concha, the magnificent shell mountain towers over Marbella

Marbella mountain is magnificent
On similar lines to the Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro and Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa, Marbella also boasts of La Concha, or the shell mountain, which is a treat to the eyes of people residing in the town.

This mountain comes under the Sierra Blanca mountain range and the town lies in the foothills of this mountain. The maximum elevation of La Concha is 1,215 meters above sea level and the slopes of the mountain runs along the Golden Mile.

In the land amidst the sea and higher areas, there are low rise apartments with trees throughout, whereas in the semi-tropical grounds, palatial villas that are luxurious make Marbella property for sale one of the best destinations to reside. Concha is a protected reserve and the land along the residential areas to the Sierra Blanca range is protected.

On a typical day, you will see eagles hovering in open skies searching for preys while mountain goats grade up the mountains. If you are a nature lover, this is the best trekking route for you and as you ascent over La Concha, the view with every step is breathtakingly beautiful. You will be able to see Puerto Banus from up there and Gibraltar will be on your west.

If your line of sight is clear, you can look across the Mediterranean Sea to see the Moroccan coast and Ceuta in Spain, where fishing boats, cruise ships and ferries can be found in the horizon and the view is one of a kind!

The western slopes of La Concha rolls up to La Concepcion, a man made dam which is beautiful and resembles the Andalucian countryside. Further down west is the white Istan village, known as a town for lunch and rest among people exploring this region. You can stop by for lunch or picnics and the view and environment in this village is splendid.

When you approach from the East, it is filled with pine forests and small eateries, making it popular among hikers. The village of Ojen, a small and beautiful town nestled in the mountain range is wonderful and is less crowded when compared to Marbella.

For trekkers, the highest peak of Lastonar, situated at an elevation of 1,270 meters is close by and it resembles the shape of a shell. No matter what you are exploring in this area, the prominent view of La Concha is sure to leave you spellbound! The other places of interest in this area are the golf club at Santa Maria and property in Elviria , or a view of the yachts sailing smoothly at Cabapino with the outline of La Concha in the horizon when you are at the beach in the close vicinity of Artola Dunes.

Wednesday 13 April 2016

Spanish emerges as second most widely used language on social networking sites


Spanish emerges as second most widely used language on social networking sites
Spanish is the second most widely used language

In a recent study, it was found that Spanish is the second most used language in social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, after English.
English, also known as lingua franca of the world, and has the largest number of speakers with most of the speakers using it as second language in most of the countries spread across Europe and Asia.
The second place faced tough competition between Chinese, French and Spanish in unofficial surveys. However, as per the new data, Spanish has emerged as the winner.
There are 470 million native Spanish speakers spread across the world, while 21 million people are learning Spanish in language schools. Due to the high number of people knowing Spanish, it has emerged as the second most widely used language in Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter after English.
Of all the internet traffic, Spanish is the third widely used language after English and Chinese, whereas in social networking sites, Spanish is seeing a rapid growth, registering a growth of over 1,100% since the start of this millennium, as per the study conducted by Instituto Cervantes.
A total of 7.2% of the world population speak Spanish and it is expected to increase to 7.5% by 2020. As per an estimate, within three generations, one in ten people worldwide would be able to speak Spanish.
However, English is also leading as the Chinese are also learning English. In the long run, Spanish will also prove to be important and people who travel to Spain and the costa del sol among other countries in the vicinity will be expected to learn Spanish. Surprisingly, the number of Spanish speakers in the American continents is also increasing at a gradual pace.
Any tourist coming to spain can find many places to teach Spanish by visiting the tourist information centres in Spain.

Tuesday 12 April 2016

Expats have better levels of happiness and health living is southern Spain


As per survey, expats have better levels of happiness and health

Usually, expats and northern Europeans who buy property in Costa del Sol and move to different countries like southern Spain have an overall better life, when health, happiness and richness is considered.

Costa del Sol brings Expats happiness and health
As per a new survey by MoveHub, an international relocation firm, expats who move to other countries enjoy several benefits, such as increased wealth, health and overall happiness.

In the survey, a total of 1,000 people from UK and Ireland took part, 50% of whom were staying abroad previously or are current expats from some other country, while the rest 50% belonged to the same country. Among the expats, 69% of the people said that they have good to very good health and happiness. However, only 58% of the people who were of the same country said that they were happy.

Expats who participated in the survey were of the opinion that they made or are making good money overseas. While 40% of the expats opined so, only 28% of the local populace was of the same opinion.

Even in terms of happiness, only 53% of the non-expat community said that they were happy, while a whopping 63% of the expat population said that they were happy.

This survey by MoveHub is one of the hundreds of surveys that indicate that the experience of life in a different country is beneficial in several aspects, which include open-mindedness, cross cultural cooperation and a wide social circle. Also, the disadvantages of living the expat life are fairly low and the pros outweigh the cons in all aspects.

By relocating and even starting up a business to Spain, you will be welcomed by a wonderful climate in Spain and warm people. There are several benefits of shifting to Spain, making it one of the favorite choices among Brits and people from Ireland.

The economy of Iran is also emerging to be strong gradually, which ensures good wealth and happy life to expats who are planning to move in to Spain.

Monday 11 April 2016

How to offset VAT while purchasing and building properties in Spain?


How to offset VAT while purchasing and building properties in Spain?

Also known as IVA in Spanish, VAT Tax in Spain accounts for 21% of the expense. Read on to know more about how to save up on VAT when you are purchasing or building on urban properties in Spain.

To give you more clarity on the topic, Adolfo Martos Gross, an expert from GAM Abogados, one of the premier law firms with bases in Malaga and Marbella, discusses about VAT in depth.

VAT in Spain is 21%
Adolfo says that whenever there is a transaction involving a Spanish individual or resident, there is VAT levied irrespective of the buyer. However, if the buyer is a company or a professional developer registered in Spain, they can offset the VAT amount paid against the VAT they are supposed to levy on the sale proceeds of the same financial year.

In simple terms, if the VAT amount they have paid to tax authorities is more than the total VAT they have collected from sales; they can ask the Spanish Tax Agency or Hacienda to refund the excess amount they have paid.

However, Hacienda on receiving a tax return claim will first check for the records of the taxpayer and check to see if it is an individual or a company. If they are suspicious that the company has no real business and is just claiming to save amount paid on VAT, they will order an inspection. Please note that if the chances of ordering an inspection increases with the amount of refund claimed for, said Adolfo.

As an alternative, the taxpayer can also retain the excess VAT paid to the tax agency and it can be used as a tax credit for a period of up to 4 years from that financial year and can be adjusted in the subsequent years.

For property developers, if the owner of land is a resident from Spain or company, the invoices issued for building work undertaken by construction firms or contractors is also subject to VAT. However, there are different provisions available.

Usually, the seller in all transactions is liable to pay VAT to the agency and the buyer is expected to pay the VAT over the sale price of a product.

If the construction is undertaken by another company than the owner, the VAT to be charged stands reduced to 10%, instead of the usual 21%. However, this will make the developer liable for charging and paying the VAT to the agency.

Usually, when the contractor or construction firm charges VAT on an invoice, the developer can withhold the VAT amount and claim it as ‘IVA repercutido’ during the same quarter and the amount should be affset as ‘IVA soportado’.

This situation is advantageous to all new offplan developers in the Costa del Sol and has several benefits when cash flow is considered.