Marbella prepares to transform its historic first tourist office into a multi-purpose space

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The La Fontanilla facilities will combine its current use with a cultural one at a cost of nearly 300,000 euros

José Carlos García

Marbella

Friday, 10 April 2026, 13:12

The refurbishment of the Marbella lighthouse as a public space was inaugurated on the 23 March, a project that has made it possible to integrate the new and modern premises of the tourism department within this site.

And just two weeks later, is preparing to transform what was its first office dedicated to serving visitors to Marbella.

The building, which dates back to 1960 and, given its use, has an undoubted "historical and symbolic value", is now on its way to being transformed into a multi-purpose space that will combine its current use with a cultural one.

According to the town hall, the La Fontanilla building is "a representative element of the evolution that Marbella has undergone as a destination", so "its recovery contributes to preserving the historical legacy and integrating it into the current tourist-cultural story of the municipality".

The aim is to convert the "underused" La Fontanilla building into a "strategic tourist-cultural asset"

Marbella council has awarded the company Sociedad Andaluza de Servicios Múltiples the contract for 284,103.28 euros for this project, which must be completed within four months from the start of the work.

The intervention is included in the framework of the extraordinary programme for sustainable tourism in destinations 2021-2023 and financed in its entirety by the European Union through the Next Generation-EU funds, part of the recovery, transformation and resilience plan for Spain.

The work planned for the La Fontanilla building aims to recover and rehabilitate the building that housed Marbella's first tourist office and which is currently "underused" in order to transform it into a "strategic tourist-cultural asset" that will be "in line with the trends of diversification of the offer and urban sustainability", explains the council.

The new space will host cultural activities such as exhibitions and tourist events. "The aim is to diversify the destination's offer by promoting a model of tourism focused on significant interaction with the local environment, sustainable and territorially distributed", the project summary states.

Environment and heritage

The rehabilitation, according to the town hall, also involves the enhancement of the immediate urban environment, which "avoids unnecessary urban expansion", as well as "reactivating urban spaces with high tourist, economic and social potential".

"The intervention shows a commitment to heritage care, respect for local culture and the modernisation of the destination. This will reinforce its attractiveness to a tourist profile interested in cultural activities, in the enhancement of the historical and artistic heritage and the search for local authenticity," the council declares. In this way, it adds, "new constructions are avoided" while priority is given to refurbishment under criteria of energy efficiency, accessibility and functionality.