15.5 Million Tourists Expected to Reach Malaga Airport in Bumper Summer

15.5 Million Tourists Expected to Reach Malaga Airport in Bumper Summer

Malaga Airport – the airport serving the Costa del Sol – is set to see more records broken in 2017, according to the director of the airport Salvador Merino.

Its predicted to be another record breaking year

The airport recorded some 16.6 million passengers last year, and this year the director is predicting that 15.5 million passengers could enter the airport during just the summer months of this year; leading to a total of over 18 million passengers by October.

The airport director did admit that there were several factors that could affect the demand, but he also revealed around 90,000 flights are expected between the summer months of May and October, which is around 500 flights per day.

Several tour operators are analysing the trends from the start of the year, leaving them just as hopeful for another bumper summer season for Spain. Malaga airport is welcoming more flight routes and flight times to deal with the demand which is coming from not just the UK, but also from Belgium, Scandinavia, and the Netherlands.

The Malaga airport will serve a record 126 destinations by the summer, with 62 of these locations based in the UK (an increase of 9% over 2016), which only highlights the fact that Brits make up the bulk of foreign tourism and are the most predominant second-home owners in the Costa del Sol.

Malaga has also seen a 20% increase in connection routes to Germany and Italy in the past year, a statistic highlighting the growing popularity of Spain around the whole of Europe. Data published in February shows that Malaga airport welcomed some 867,382 passengers during January – an increase of 18.4% over January of 2016.

2016 Saw Increase in Number of British Holidaymakers Heading to Spain, and More are Expected in 2017

2016 Saw Increase in Number of British Holidaymakers Heading to Spain, and More are Expected in 2017

It looks like the relationship between Brits and Spain can survive just about anything; from economic crashes and the f

Spain continues to be one of the most visited

country's in the world

allying pound, to the TV show Benidorm and the Brexit.

The strength of the bond was shown in 2016, as the official data from travel market analysts GfK proves that just under 18 million Brits headed to Spain for their holiday last year. Even though this figure is a record breaking number, it’s expected the record could be broken as early as this year. GfK are reporting that there are already 16% more Brits making early summer holiday bookings compared to last year.

There are a number of reasons behind the never-ending demand; Spain has much warmer and settled weather than the UK; it has cheaper leisure options including food and drink; accommodation is cheaper in Spain; and the Spanish property market is much better value for money than the British one.

There are also some more abstract reasons for this love affair. Success begets success, and it can feel like stepping foot on a Spanish runway for the first time ever is almost a traditional thing for Brits to do. While Brits “might” visit countries such as France, Italy, and the US, Spain is one of those countries that they “must” visit.

Spain has also built up a reputation as being a bit of a safe haven from the terrorism problems found in rival nations in the Mediterranean such as Tunisia, Turkey, and Egypt. This has made the country much more appealing for tourists around the world; particularly the Brits.

The VC of Tourism in the Canary Islands Cristóbal de la Rosa spoke about being pleased with the figures. It was expected that numbers could fall following the Brexit and the drop in value for the pound. However, figures have only risen. There have been some uncertainties, but all they did was strengthen the British need to visit Spain and enjoy a holiday in the country.

Surge in Spanish Wine Expected for 2016

Surge in Spanish Wine Expected for 2016

While Spanish wine can be found on most tables in the world a lot of Spanish wine ends up bottled and labelled as being from Italy or France.

Spain's wine regions are some of the best in the world

https://costadelsolpropertygroup.com/Climate-spain.phpIf Spain wasn’t already thought of as a heaven on Earth with their superb beaches, wonderful climate, healthy Mediterranean diet and stunning cities and landscapes then throwing in that Spain is the largest producer of wine in the world will definitely seal the deal.

Data released this week shows that Spain is set for one of their biggest years for wine production with Spain set to make over 50 million hectolitres of wine this year. Don’t worry if you’re not sure what a hectolitre is. To put it simply one hectolitre is the same as 100 litres.

So that makes 50 million hectolitres a heck of a lot of wine.

But why is Spain producing so much wine? It’s believed by the associates and bodies of grape growers and wineries in Spain that the September harvest will be a particularly bountiful one. It’s even being suggested that there could be enough grapes harvested to surpass the old 52.5 million hectolitre record set a few years ago in 2013.

The relatively mild and wet winter and spring, followed by the intense heat of the summer, has led to a great crop this year. There has also been very little crop disease in Spain this year outside of a few incidents of mildew and other problems in Huelva, Galicia and Jerez. The majority of the wine will be coming from the hinterlands of Castilla-La Mancha however and the conditions there are said to be great for wine.

The Castilla-La Mancha isn’t the only place expecting a bumper crop though. Extremadura, Valencia, Ribera del Duero and La Rioja are also expecting great crop numbers.

The boost has also been helped by an increase in how many grapes are being grown overall. The demand for Spanish wine is on the up and wineries are responding by growing more grapes. While the domestic demand for Spanish wine is around 10 million hectolitres there’s little doubt that the increase in foreign demand could see well over 50 million hectolitres produced this year.

Another reason for the increase in Spanish production is that around half of all the wine Spain produces goes to wineries in France and Italy. The wine is then mixed with the wine in these countries and labelled as wine from there to sate the demands of people who still insist that the best wine is French and Italian; not even realising they’re purchasing Spanish!

Spain is still happy with this though because it means that almost all the wine made in Spain gets sold even if it isn’t labelled as Spanish wine. Even though Spain can’t officially take the credit for it everyone the world over is enjoying some of the best wine in the country; whether they realise it or not.

Rise in Spanish Property Prices Expected to Increase Until 2025

Rise in Spanish Property Prices Expected to Increase Until 2025

Property prices in Spain will continue to rise which is

great news for the Costa del sol

The slump in the Spanish property market lasted a good seven years but things are on the up now, with one market analysis suggesting that prices are set to continue increasing steadily for the next nine years until Spain reaches the peak prices of 2007 once more.

Or so José Luis Suárez, a financial management professor with the IESE business school, claims. He gave a now-widely-quoted symposium over the weekend in which he claimed that Spain will need to build 100,000 new homes each year until 2020, with the demand increasing for the next five years to 140,000.

There are a number of reasons people should be optimistic about the health of the property sector in Spain. While a number of encouraging reports have come out this is by far the most encouraging one. It was between 2007 and 2014 that the demand for property took a sharp downturn with only 75,000 homes built a year, down significantly from the high of 800,000 in 2006. Suárez believes that Spain is headed for a slow but steady recovery now after construction reached an all time low of 50,000 in 2015.

Madrid and the Costa del Sol is currently where the highest demand for new property is. Roughly 25,000 homes are constructed there each year.

Suárez had something to say about the average price per square metre of residential property too. He made the point that the annual rises seen leading up to 2007 were followed by bludgeoning cuts. The price per square metre fell from 2,062 euros in 2007 to around 1,400 euros in 2014. He expects that it will be 2025 when we see the peak price from 2007 once more. It is worth noting however that this figure doesn’t take inflation into account. It’s not an accurate representation of the “real” value.

It his figures prove accurate though it means that Spanish property can expect an appreciation of around 40% in nine years, making investing in Spanish property a smart choice. You should keep in mind that market trends change all the time and are also different from area to area.

Spanish Property Sales Expected to Go Up 10%

Spanish Property Sales Expected to Go Up 10%

People are beginning to buy property overseas again  in the Costa del Sol and, as usual, Spain has found itself one of the most popular choices.

2015 proved to be a strong year for the Spanish property market and it’s being predicted that 2016 will be even better.

Property for sale in the Costa del Sol is defiantly on the up

It’s expected that more than 440,000 Spanish properties could change hands in 2016. This is according to data from KPMG, one of the leading analysts. A seminar was held last week in which experts gathered to discuss the potential of the Spanish property market. They agreed that the property sector could grow between 10% and 12% in 2016. Overall the market is expected to make over €20 billion.

Transactions in 2015 came to a total of €18 billion and, according to KPMG’s Amparo solis, 2016 will see €2 billion more generated.

Spanish property prices are still low but they are rising. As such 2016 could be a very lucrative year for the Spanish property market, according to Deloitte’s Alberto Valis. Alberto believes that the low interest rates in Spain will spur on the market even more.

Roughly 60% of the property sales in 2015 were funded through mortgages, a sign that Spain has a lot of cash-rich buyers. It’s expected that more homes for sale in the costa del sol and spain will be funded by mortgages this year. This is a good thing too as it suggests buyers on average incomes are able to jump on the property ladder.

It was also accepted that the economic growth that Spain is seeing in general is also part of the reason behind the growth of the property sector, along with the decline in unemployment figures.

PwC’s Jaime Bergaz says that so far 2016 has seen almost €14.5 billion worth of property change hands, and that the average value per sale has gone up. This is in spite of the current political problems Spain is facing and the uncertainty caused by a potential Brexit coming in July.