Around 25% of Spain’s Costa del Sol hospitality & tourism firms on verge of collapse as a result of lockdown & delayed de-escalation

Around 25% of Malaga’s businesses, mainly in the hospitality and tourism industries, are on the verge of collapse as a result of the lockdown and delayed de-escalation, confirmed the province’s commercial and tourism bodies today.

ACCORDING to the President of Malaga’s Commercial Department, Sergio Cuberos, “Between 20-25% of businesses in Malaga are going to close or are on the verge of collapsing. However, yesterday’s announcement of Malaga being denied access to Phase 2 of de-escalation on Monday 25th, will potentially increase that figure of failure even higher.” He said Friday’s events have cast further doubts on when Malaga’s tourism industry and tour operators can start organising trips again to the Costa del Sol.

The Confederation of Businesses in Andalucía and Málaga’s President Javier González de Lara, believes today’s decision is a “mistake” and will “harm our return to normal – economically”. It will “complicate and slowdown our recovery particularly in the tourism sector”.

Yesterday’s announcement was “disappointing and really bad for Malaga’s economy”, not just in terms of “a damaged brand image, but also business”, added Cuberos. “The news came as a huge blow not just for hoteliers, but also for the hospitality sector, particularly those establishments that do not have terraces as they were looking forward to finally opening their doors next week had we gained access to Phase 2 on Monday.” From a health perspective “there was no good reason for being denied access to the next phase next week, but the “government keeps changing the goal posts”, he added.