Dutch visitor numbers to Costa del Sol reach new highs

A report by Turismo Costa del Sol, the tourism department of Malaga province, shows that mobility restrictions during the health crisis have had long-lasting effects on visitors, with former minority markets now performing best. At the end of 2022, only the Netherlands, Italy, Norway and Morocco presented higher growth in tourist arrivals to Malaga airport than in 2019.

The Costa del Sol as a destination for Dutch sunseekers is such that this market has become the third most important international country for the province of Malaga, after the United Kingdom and Germany, which had 18.7% and 22% less arrivals respectively at the end of 2022 than in the pre-pandemic record year of 2019.

This contrasts with data showing that during the same period, Dutch tourists arriving at the airport increased by 0.4%, with 564,757 travelers, and Italian tourists by 7.5%, with 365,624 visitors. Noteworthy, however, is the 236% increase in passengers from Morocco, a figure that coincides with the opening and expansion of flights to several Moroccan airports. Also noteworthy is the almost 2% increase in Norwegian arrivals, which is also related to the decision of the financially troubled Norwegian airline to fly only to Malaga and Alicante in Spain.

In addition to these international markets, domestic tourism also increased 13.2%, with 1,658,180 passengers at Malaga airport, nearly 200,000 more than before the pandemic. The industry now awaits the reactivation of key countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany and France.