News Archive from Andalucia & Costa del Sol
In association with
Week ending May 2th
SIERRA NEVADA SEASON ENDS
The Sierra Nevada Ski Station has announced that this winter's season will end on May 1. It will mean the end of a five-month season generally considered to be the best ever for the Granada centre, which will now spend the summer on a new project to improve the infrastructures at the site. More than 20,000 skiers have visited Sierra Nevada every weekend over the winter this year. This coming weekend the Spanish Veteran Championship takes place, the last of 32 competitive events to be held on the site.
PORT REDESIGN
The new plan for Málaga port will be ready within the month, according to Enrique Linde, president of the Port Authority. Technicians are currently working on the redistribution of leisure areas and plans for a new multi-cinema complex on the corner of docks one and two will go ahead. The approval of the new design will give the green light to construction of the most commercial part of the new port's leisure design.
HOTEL NUMBERS UP
The number of hotel beds in the province of Málaga increased by 1,400 in just the first three months of this year, according to the provincial tourism office of the regional government. The increased number come from a total of 12 new establishments, opened over that time.
THRIVING RESDIENTIAL TOURISM
The purchase of homes by tourists has been put at being worth 150,000 million pesetas over last year, according to figures just released. These figures indicate that the practice of so-called residential tourism on the Costa del Sol is as strong as ever and now thought to make up as much as half of tourism as a whole. The provincial association of builders and promoters say the figure above relates only to foreign purchases and an additional 90,000 million pesetas must be added coming from Spaniards buying a second home in the province. The Costa del Sol tourism board has said a total of 7,400,000 tourists came to the province last year, 4,200,000 foreigners and 3,200,000 Spaniards, and more than half of these did not stay in hotels, but instead in homes owned by themselves, relatives or friends.
GROWING ECONOMIC BENEFITS
The tourism authorities say the importance of residential tourism on the economy of Málaga cannot be ignored and that its influence is increasing. The nearly three million tourists who used 225,000 private homes for their accommodation, often have bank accounts based in the province, used to cover maintenance and other costs estimated to total 200,000 million pesetas - in addition to the 250,000 million spent by them when they are actually here.
NEW TOURISM CHIEF
Málaga born Federico Miró has been named as the new managing director of EPTA - the public company for Andalucian tourism, which depends on the tourism Department of regional government. In a press conference to announce his appointment, he said he would look to introduce the very latest strategies in the promotion and sale of the 'ANDALUCIA' brand name, open new markets for tourists and consolidate existing ones.
THE BIG CHEESE
Málaga has already created the 'denomination of origin' for such products as fine wines and olive oil. Now the seal of quality will be extended to the cheeses of Serrania de Ronda. Juan Luis Muñoz, of the regional agriculture office (OCA) has announced that eight cheese manufacturers in Cádiz and Málaga Province will be able to brand their produce, 'Quesos de la Serrania de Ronda'. It is hoped that this new branding will open up new markets and attract new clients. The mil for these cheeses comes from a total of 60,000 goats. They in turn produce 24,000 tons of milk, which makes 4,000 tons of cheese a year, each kilo of cheese requiring six kilos of milk. The sale of these cheeses generates 4,000 million pesetas per annum of which 60 per cent is created by Málaga and 40 per cent by Cádiz. The cheeses will be presented in three varieties: fresco - the day of manufacture; semicurado - one month old and curado - two months old.
EURO SHOP
The Málaga commerce federation (FECOMA) has opened a 'Eurotienda' in the city, where for the next two months the public will be able to practice making purchases using euro notes and coins. 25,000 people are expected to visit the shop over that time, where they will be asked to make purchase which total exactly 350 Euros and be given a prize if they achieve it.
HIGH PROFITS FOR TALGO TRAIN RENFE
Spanish Railways has announced that its 'Talgo 220' line between Madrid and Málaga is the one to see the highest growth in traffic across the country last year. The figures just released, say 844,185 people used the service, 100,000 more than in 1999 - an increase of more than 14 per cent. The company says the Málaga line played a large part in record profits for their high-speed division, which reported a 5,980 million surplus over the year. The main AVE high-speed route reported punctuality figures of 98.5% - only 33 of the 17,175 trains to run between Madrid and Seville during the year arrived more than five minutes late. A company promise to return all ticket costs to AVE travellers who arrive with a delay of greater than five minutes only cost the company a total of 51 million pesetas last year.
COIN FERIA
Coin's annual feria will be celebrated between April 28 and May 3. This year there will be no running of heifers, bullfights or cattle competitions in order to prevent the spread of foot and mouth disease. In spite of restrictions, residents of coin are just as ready to enjoy their annual spring festival. The proceedings will start on Saturday with the traditional procession with the queens of the festival.
......Costa del Sol News Archive