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.

Spanish Exports Reach All-Time High in 2016

Spanish Exports Reach All-Time High in 2016

Living in Spain is at an all time high and Spanish exports totalled €254.53 billion last year, which was not just a 1.7% increase on 2015, but also the best year ever for Spanish exports.

Everything in Spain is moving in the right direction.

Last year Spain was the best-performing country in the EU and Eurozone as a whole in terms of exports. This incredible performance also allowed Spain to reduce the trade deficit by 22.4%; bringing it to €18.7 billion; the second-best it’s been since 1997.

Imports were down 0.4% to €273.28 billion, suggesting that the country is shifting towards being more export-based; a model similar to the one Germany has. Germany has always been considered to be a country that knows how to handle business.

There was a rise in the balance between exports and imports, bringing the balance to 93.1% for 2016; another sign of this changing trade and a friendly reminder that there is demand for Spain and Spanish goods around the world.

Through posting this 1.7% year-on-year increase in exports, Spain was able to outperform the average of the EU (0..7%) and even outperformed Germany; which only managed to increase exports by 1.2%.

Exports were down during 2016 in several countries, including the UK, France, China, and the US.

The goods that were most commonly exported from Spain were ships, medicines, olives and olive oil, and electronic devices. Spain has become the third largest exporter of wine, fruits and vegetables in the world. Around 70% of the goods exported from Spain stay within the European Union.

The most popular imports of Spain, on the other hand, include machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels, foods, and medical instruments.

Everything in Spain is on the up even buying property.

Property Sales in Spain Reach Second-Highest For Five Years During Third Quarter

Property Sales in Spain Reach Second-Highest For Five Years During Third Quarter

The Costa del Sol and Spain continue its property recovery

The latest data from the Spanish property registrar shows that a total of 103,055 homes traded hands in Spain between July and the end of September; representing the second-best quarterly performance in Spain for five years.

When compared to the third quarter of 2015 there were 11.1% more homes sold in the third quarter of 2016 as the property market became more active during 2016.

The third quarter was also up 4.4% over the second quarter of 2016 and showed the trend of each quarter being stronger than the last has continued since it began in 2010.

When you look at the 12 months leading to September there were 394,000 homes sold in Spain overall. This is an increase of 13.2% over the previous 12 months. 2015 itself was also a continuation of the growth the market saw in 2014, which is when the property market began to recover from years of contraction.

To look back even further shows that the amount of homes sold throughout Spain in the third quarter is the second-best quarter for five years; beaten out only by the fourth quarter of 2011 in which there was a mass fire sale of distressed properties.

Many experts expect that this upward trend will continue on into 2017 and the years after; thanks to the economic recovery of Spain and the consistent appeal the country has for being a premier destination for going on holiday and purchasing property to the people of Europe and the world as a whole.

Not everyone was feeling the positivity however as the data showed that the average price for property sold in the third quarter was 1.4% the average price from the second quarter.

Experts explained away the shrinking average price – prices in Spain have been increasing for around 18 months now – saying that it was mostly due to a shrinking number of new build homes being sold. New build homes are usually more expensive than a resale home and so they can provide the average sale price with a healthy boost.

The data from the registrar shows that only 17.1% of the homes sold in the third quarter were new builds, which was down from the 21% from the quarter before.

Even though there was a small fall in the average property price your average home in Spain is still being sold for around 3.3% more than it was this time in 2015.