Poles lead leap in Costa del Sol tourist numbers

TOURISM is going great on the Costa del Sol this year and numbers of visitors from seven countries have increased by more than 10 per cent, the tourism board has reported.

In general terms, the Costa registered a five per cent increase in visits and overnight stays by international tourists over the first six months of the year, with 1,687,459 visitors staying at hotels, apartments, campsites and rural accommodation in Malaga province, 78,777 more than over the same period last year.

Altogether they produced a total of 8,146,979 overnight stays, most of which (5.5 million) were at hotels, Costa del Sol Tourism director Arturo Bernal announced.

Of particular note were increases in visitors from seven countries: Poland (30 per cent), Switzerland (15 per cent), Holland (14 per cent), Sweden, Italy and Ireland (11.9 per cent each) and Denmark (10.9 per cent), Bernal reported.

The traditional UK and French markets which make up the bulk of visitors to the area also registered increases of 7.6 and 8.8 per cent respectively.

Over the same period (January to June) 38 million tourists from overseas visited Spain according to the latest Frontur tourism survey carried out by Turespaña.