Costa del Sol hotels improve expectations in final stretch of Holy Week

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Despite last-minute bookings thanks to a price drop, Malaga province will not reach 2025 occupancy rates

Pilar Martínez

Malaga

Thursday, 2 April 2026, 10:22

Costa del Sol hotels have managed to improve their forecasts in the final stretch of Holy Week. This, however, is not due to tourists' desire to travel or the good weather. According to industry professionals, what has ultimately managed to attract more visitors is a sharp drop in prices to offset the decline in demand caused by the high-speed rail service disruption.

Even this measure, however, has not been enough to reach the number of bookings recorded in 2025. The initial report from Aehcos (the Costa del Sol hoteliers' association) predicted that hotels would fill an average of 73.9% of their rooms between 27 March and 6 April. This figure contrasts with the 80.18% recorded last year and the 75.98% of 2024, considered the worst year on record due to the heavy rains that prevented the vast majority of processions from taking place and triggered numerous booking cancellations.

For the peak days of Holy Week, considered the period of highest demand, between 2 and 6 April, hoteliers predicted an occupancy rate of 78.03%, below the 83.22% recorded in 2025 and the 87.81% reached in 2023.

Now, halfway through the holidays, Deputy President of Aehcos Javier Hernández says that, in general, the first part of Holy Week, from Good Friday to Holy Wednesday, saw a drop in sales, as predicted. According to him, occupancy levels have somewhat improved in the final stretch.

"Prices have come down and as of today, Holy Wednesday, the improvement is minimal and not widespread. The predictions have practically come true. This second survey among professionals shows that last-minute bookings have been better since Maundy Thursday, although they report only closing 50% of the sales recorded last year," Hernández states, adding that in 2025 these last-minute bookings were made at higher room rates.

Hernández denounces the fact that "there is absolutely no availability to travel from Madrid to Malaga from this Holy Wednesday until Easter Sunday", while also warning of the high cost of plane tickets. "A tourist from Mexico told us that the ticket from Madrid to Malaga cost more than the one from Mexico to Madrid," he says.

Co-founder of the Soho Boutique chain of hotels Gonzalo Armenteros confirms the difficulty they've faced in trying to fill rooms in Malaga. "Last-minute bookings aren't working very well, although it's true that the location of our hotels allows us to almost reach full capacity. However, the price has fallen compared to previous years. The high-speed rail has had a significant impact and the slowdown in bookings has forced us to lower prices compared to other years to achieve a similar occupancy rate," he says.

Several hoteliers in the city confirm that room prices for the week following the first holidays of the year are higher than those offered during Holy Week.

575

flights will land at Malaga Airport on Maundy Thursday

Head of Aehcos in Malaga Francisco Moro says that "people have decided to come by car so as not to miss Holy Week". In fact, he states that hotels have run short of parking spaces, which is unusual, given that they usually "never fill the hotel car park".

Co-founder of the Ruralidays platform Félix Zea confirms this improvement in forecasts, although it was already clear a few weeks ago that rural accommodation would not suffer the suspension of the high-speed rail as much as urban tourism. Most guests in the countryside arrive by car anyways.

"During the first part of Holy Week, we went from an average occupancy rate of 69% to 72%; during the peak period now beginning, from Holy Wednesday to Easter Sunday, from 82% to 84.5%. We're seeing an average increase of 2.5% with last-minute bookings across the province," Zea says.

Malaga Airport faces its busiest days of Holy Week on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, with 575 and 576 flights, respectively. According to data from airport operator Aena, 5,996 flights will have operated during this year's first holidays, compared to 6,040 during the same period in 2015. Of the landings and take-offs scheduled by the 51 airlines currently connecting the Costa del Sol with 144 cities worldwide, 4,780 are international flights, compared to 1,216 flights from within Spain.