Gloomy summer Hotel bosses say bookings ‘cooled down’ in Costa del Sol

COSTA DEL SOL hoteliers claim that reservations for the start of the summer season are not looking good. The summer season on the Costa del Sol starts in May and ends in October, and the President of the Costa del Sol Hoteliers Association (Aehcos), Jose Carlos Escribano, said that he hopes bookings will pick up soon because so far they have “cooled down”. 

He also complained that the local administrations have reduced the promotion of the area to tourists. Last minute bookings are more frequent nowadays, but the Alliance for Tourism Excellence (Exceltur), which represents Spain’s major tourist companies, foresee several circumstances which will have a negative effect on tourism this summer.

The only positive sign,it says, is that private expenditure and available income of German families is expected to increase slightly, while the UK and France will maintain the current levels.

However, unemployment in Spain is still on the rise, VAT rises have made products and services more expensive, and now, people are slowly returning to countries like Egypt and Tunisia.

The fact that the price of airline tickets is rising due to lack of demand and increasing airport taxes is also expected to hit tourism. 

By Jennifer Leighfield