Malaga Airport News Blog about Malaga Airport (AGP)

Spanish tourists continued to choose London as the main destination for their flights during the month of January, while five Spanish cities are among the top ten in terms of searches of British tourists, occupying Malaga, Tenerife and Alicante the top three positions respectively.

London is preferred by the Spanish tourists according a database analysis of Skyscanner. Spanish destinations such as Barcelona (fourth), Madrid (fifth) and Tenerife (ninth) also are among the preferences of the Spaniards, who like traveling to nearby European cities.

The capitals of the countries closest to Spain are, along with the Spanish cities and London destinations that occupy the best positions in the list. Thus Paris ranks second, Amsterdam fifth, Rome and Berlin followed in sixth and seventh respectively. Prague, Dublin, Lisbon and Brussels occupy positions 12, 13, 14 and 15 respectively. Only New York City (8) goes as long-haul destination in the list of European cities developed by Skyscanner.

On the other hand, this month is worth noting that three Spanish cities are leading the list of popular holiday destinations for Brits, being situated in first place Malaga, Tenerife second and Alicante third. Sun and beach seem to be the most attracting factors of our country to tourists from the United Kingdom, since Palma (6) and Lanzarote (10) are also among the 10 target cities.

The responsible of Skyscanner for the Spanish market said: “Preferences of Brits and Spaniards are markedly different when searching flights. While Spanish tourists are opting for big cities with entertainment and culture, British tourists chose cities near the magnificent Spanish beaches, where the good weather is almost guaranteed.”

The Feria de Malaga has a long standing tradition and is one of the mayor events on the Costa del Sol in summer.
It is a fair that you should not miss as it is actually one of the most important fairs which are held in Andalusia, with a very significant influx of tourists from the rest of Spain and also tourists from abroad.

The fair in Malaga is traditionally celebrated in August and this year will be held from the 13th to 22nd of August. The Feria de Malaga is outstanding for its good atmosphere, music and dance, wine and tapas and a lot of fun. During the event are held on three different stages concerts and performances, which are generally for free.

Another feature of the Malaga Fair are its two different aspects: the Day Fair and The Night Fair.
The day fair is held from midday onwards in the streets of the historic centre of Malaga, around the Calle Larios, with a lot of possibilities to sample wines and tapas and enjoy the festive mood and street life.
Once the sun goes down, the party moves on to the fairgrounds of “El Real”, with many booths, music, concerts and the typical fairground attractions, where visitors can have fun until dawn.

On Friday, August 13th, before midnight will be held the official opening speech for the Fair on the beach of La Malagueta, where thousands of locals and visitors are congregating. Immediately afterwards there will be a great firework, followed by an open air concert around 00:30 am at the same beach.

In order to facilitate the Access for visitors to the fair this year the town hall of Malaga enables 10,000 parking spaces in the fairground. There are also 18 additional bus routes for 1.50 €.

Being nude at the beach, using soap in the showers at the beach, putting up a sunshade before 8.00 h in the morning or taking a bath with the red flag out are behaviors that in some places are now penalized with up to 750€.

Since last year, a lot of Spanish coastal municipalities have toughened their decrees in order to sanction diverse practices. For instance, the government of Cadiz considers nudism an “illegal practice”, which has caused strong protest from the Spanish Federation for Nudism; meanwhile in Valencia there is a restriction to put up umbrellas before 8.00 in the morning in order to avoid people reserving space at the beach.

Not identifying yourself, getting aggressive, trying to avoid or running away can be sufficient motive for detention and the transfer to the police station.

How are things in Málaga?

From this weekend on, Malaga’s coastline counts with devices giving out portable ashtrays. The objective is to increase awareness about and taking care of the environment. For this reason, the government is installing 140 ashtray devices along the fourteen beaches of the capital.