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Málaga cements its place as Andalucía's tourism powerhouse with eight million hotel nights and counting
New figures show the province accounts for nearly 40% of all hotel stays in the region, with international visitors driving record-breaking results
The numbers are hard to argue with. Málaga province has closed the first five months of 2026 with over eight million hotel overnight stays, 8,099,657 to be precise, confirming its position as the undisputed engine of tourism in Andalucía. A total of 2,383,836 travellers checked into hotels across the province between January and May, according to data from the Institute of Statistics and Cartography of Andalucía.May alone tells a compelling story. The province welcomed 644,630 hotel guests during the month, generating 2,275,462 overnight stays, close to 4% more than the same period last year. Perhaps more telling is how long people are choosing to stay: the average visit lasted 3.5 nights, well above the Andalusian average of 2.8 days.
The driving force behind these figures is international tourism. Of May's visitors, 473,050 came from abroad compared to 171,580 from within Spain. Foreign guests accounted for more than 82% of all overnight stays and averaged four nights per visit, underlining just how strongly Málaga registers as a destination on the global map.
The Costa del Sol, unsurprisingly, led the way within the province. In May it received 590,452 visitors and recorded 2,183,841 overnight stays, with an average stay of 3.7 nights and more than 1.8 million of those nights attributed to international tourists.
The gap between Málaga and the rest of Andalucía is striking. In May, the province accounted for 31.2% of all travellers staying in Andalusian hotels and 39.4% of total overnight stays across the region. Seville came second with 362,731 travellers and 782,466 overnight stays, followed by Cádiz with 321,431 visitors and 885,032 stays.
Among individual destinations, Torremolinos ranked as the second most visited Andalusian town after Seville, with 562,879 overnight stays. Benalmádena recorded 391,524, Málaga capital 316,292, Marbella 291,576, Fuengirola 249,819 and Estepona 175,410.
The strength of the sector is also visible in employment. Málaga's hotels employed an average of 21,726 workers in May, the highest figure in Andalucía, with 666 hotels open, more than 106,000 beds available and room occupancy exceeding 80%.
It all adds up to a province that is having a remarkable summer, and with two landmark cruise arrivals still to come before June is out, including one of the largest passenger ships ever built, the momentum shows no sign of slowing.
Image: ELG21/Pixabay
