Costa del Sol smashes its hotel overnight stay record

International visitors accounted for more than 60% of hotel visits on the Costa del Sol last year.

The exceptional array of hotels available to visitors to the Costa del Sol often gets overlooked when ranking and rating the region’s charms.

After all, it is on the Costa del Sol where the idea of the “Home in the Sun” first took hold, and it is the area’s superb selection of available properties for sale that has brought it to international prominence…

However, holidaymakers have long enjoyed the Costa del Sol’s many delights from the comfort of their hotel, and as Spain’s popularity has soared in recent months, so too has demand for hotel rooms across the country.

The latest data from the Costa del Sol Tourism Board has revealed that the demand for overnight stays in the region has never been higher, with 2016 seeing more than five million people stay a night or more for the first time ever.

This represented a 5% increase on 2015, with a growing number of British, French, German and Scandinavian tourists joining the Spanish in spending a night or seven at hotels on the Costa del Sol.

According to The Tourism Board’s president, Elías Bendodo, the number of Brits who booked into hotels on the Costa del Sol in 2016 reached 1,013,161 – which represents a healthy 13.1% increase on the previous year, and is yet another reminder that, despite concerns over Brexit and the weakened pound, the British love affair with Spain is stronger than ever.