The Wyndham Grand Costa del Sol resort hosted the Marca Costa del Sol forum on Tuesday 29th, organised by the newspaper ‘La Opinión de Málaga’, which was attended by authorities and business leaders from four municipalities on the Málaga coast: Mijas, Casares, Benahavís and Ojén. At the meeting, the strengths of the Costa del Sol as a destination were analysed, as were its weaknesses, including the lack of alternatives to optimise mobility in the province of Málaga. “Here on the Costa del Sol, we have pending issues to resolve regarding such important matters as public services or infrastructure, and we cannot forget that coastal railway line we have been talking about for so many years but which no government has managed to turn into a reality”, recalled the mayoress of Mijas, Ana Mata (PP), who took part in the first panel discussion alongside the mayor of Casares, Juan Luis Villalón; the mayor of Ojén, Juan Merino; and the councillor for Tourism in Benahavís, Scott Marshall.
- Autoridades y empresarios de Mijas, Ojén, Benahavís y Casares, este martes en el foro.
- I. PÉREZ.
“Another of the topics we discussed was the A-7 dual carriageway, which has become too small for the province, and it is true that tourists arrive very easily by plane at the airport, but things get more complicated afterwards to reach the different municipalities on the Costa del Sol,” pointed out Enrique López, Business Development director at the Idiliq business group.
As for the Costa del Sol’s strengths, the councillor for Tourism at Mijas Town Hall, Francisco Jerez (Vox), highlighted that “three of the four municipalities present today (Mijas, Casares and Benahavís) have the distinct feature of having both coastal and mountainous areas, so we can cater to a multi-interest tourist who can go on a mountain bike route in the morning, have lunch on the beach at midday, play golf in the afternoon and go fishing at night”, he gave as an example.
- La alcaldesa de Mijas junto al director de la Opinión de Málaga, concejales de Mijas y el edil de Benahavís.
- I. PÉREZ.
For his part, the councillor for Tourism Promotion in Mijas, Juan Carlos Maldonado (PMP), added that “the Costa del Sol is also betting on many other complementary sectors such as agri-food, gastronomy, culture, sport and even business tourism, which allow us to tackle the issue of seasonality”.
- Asistentes del encuentro, celebrado este martes en Wyndham Gran Costa del Sol.
- I. PÉREZ.
Tourist tax
The application or non-application of a tourist tax in Andalusia was also a subject of debate. This was something the mayoress of Mijas was not in favour of, “and we see this in Catalonia, for example, where there have been no exponential improvements in public policies”. In this regard, Mata argued that there are currently other priorities, “such as getting major hotel chains to see a business opportunity here in Mijas, to increase hotel beds but, above all, to generate employment and opportunities in our municipality, as well as boosting the local economy", she concluded.
Share it with this link: https://mijasint.com/?a=39506
