Thus, during the past year stayed overnight in the city a total of 853,481 tourists, representing an increase of 14.35 % over 2009.

54.1 % of all travelers who stayed overnight in hotels in the capital in 2010 were from the domestic market. The foreign market has been growing fastest in terms of visitors in Malaga city, in particular with 28.1 % more visitors. United Kingdom remains the largest source market. After the UK are located Germany and France, followed by the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland, with increases of around 50 percent and the United States and Italy, which about 30 % of travelers.

There are currently being developed two new projects: “Live Spanish in Malaga” regarding language tourism, and ‘Feel Málaga ‘, about cultural tourism, which join the existing segments of cruises, conferences and meetings.

The Web is the main tool used by tourists visiting the capital of the Costa del Sol as information before traveling; also there are many who use it to do the planning and booking.

Sunset in Sierra Nevada

Most tourists associate Andalusia with sun, beach, flamenco and tapas. Very few people know that here is also a great ski resort. The Sierra Nevada attracts with 100 km ski slopes and spectacular views of the Mediterranean Sea.

On clear days you can enjoy an incredible view over the Straits of Gibraltar and clearly visible are the small towns on the Costa Tropical. Even individual vessels can be seen from nearly 3,300 meters. Further away we can see the African coast with the Moroccan Rif Mountains. Skiing in Europe with views of Africa, you won´t get that nowhere else.

Here at the highest point of the ski resort of Sierra Nevada, the view is so striking that hardly any skier goes immediately down the slopes. The Sierra Nevada is not only Europe’s southernmost, but also the highest ski area. To the 3396 meters high Veleta summit there is only a 100 metres difference in altitude from the close by Laguna Lift. Also, the 3481 metres high Mulhacén (the Mountain of Sun in Moorish times) seems within reach.

In the east lies at the foot of the Sierra Nevada, the Moorish city of Granada with its world-famous Caliph’s Palace, the Alhambra, which is also easily made out from the lofty heights.

Access: By charter and scheduled flights to Malaga. From here, a 90-minutes trip in a rental car or bus to Granada. There are daily buses from Granada to the ski resort Pradollano.

Winter Sports: The ski season in Sierra Nevada runs from early December to late April. The day ski pass costs about 40 €. See our related article about Sierra Nevada.

The glittering surface in the background is not ice or snow: View from Pico de Veleta over the nearby Mediterranean Sea.

]]> http://www.airmalaga.com/blog/sierra-nevada-%e2%80%93-europe%c2%b4s-southernmost-ski-resort/feed/ 0 http://www.airmalaga.com/blog/winter-season-201011-in-sierra-nevada-likely-to-begin-on-november-27th/ http://www.airmalaga.com/blog/winter-season-201011-in-sierra-nevada-likely-to-begin-on-november-27th/#comments Tue, 09 Nov 2010 10:51:39 +0000 Admin http://www.airmalaga.com/blog/?p=521

27th of November is the date initially chosen to open the ski resort of Sierra Nevada in Granada. Of course, the indispensable condition to open the resort will be the presence of snow in adequate quality and quantity.

For this season Sierra Nevada has been awarded with an investment of 10 million Euros to promote new facilities and reform existing facilities.

The ski resort of Sierra Nevada will launch this winter season 2010/2011 the Sulayr super park dedicated to fans of snowboarding and freestyle, in Loma de Dilar area, which will be set from now on as a young space, funny and with its own image.

The new snow park, larger than the previous one, will have three areas of natural and artificial modules, ambient music and Wi-Fi network, among others.

As a result, the perimeter which was previously occupied by Sulayr in Borreguiles will join the family and beginners ski area, in a reorganization of the Sierra Nevada ski area that seeks to provide better scenarios for two basic sectors: the families and snowboarders.

One of the great innovations of the 2010/11 campaign will be the launching of the slope Universiade. For the design of this slope it has been necessary to build an underground crossing at its intersection with the slope Maribel.

The idea of this initiative is to support the development of competitions along with the commercial exploitation of the station, as with the underground crossing it is not necessary to interrupt the traffic of skiers from Borreguiles and Pradollano when Super G competitions are held on the track Universiade.

As well for the first time has been launched the pre-sale of discounted ski passes. Sierra Nevada is situated only 120 km from Malaga and the Costa del Sol and offers visitors a wide range of hotels and apartments.

Malaga remains the second port of the peninsula regarding the traffic of cruise ships, awaiting the high season to begin in September.

Despite the economic crisis affecting almost all sectors, it is a good time for cruise traffic in the Port of Malaga, which continues to record positive numbers. The overall balance is positive throughout the national territory, in fact Málaga virtually remains in the same numbers than last year, but from September onwards will provide a quantitative leap that will contribute to historical records by the end of the year.

During the first six months of 2010, the Port of Málaga received a total of 182.927 tourists and 119 cruise ships.

But growth will come with the start of high season, which is historically considered in Málaga during the last quarter of the year. According to forecasts by the Port Authority, Málaga will close the course of 20210 with a total of 330 cruise ships.

One of the objectives of the Port of Málaga for this year’s course was to break with the historical seasonality that has ever existed during the summer months with cruise ships. In this sense the July data are positive, as there have been a total of 22 scales of cruises compared to the 16 that were recorded last year.

At present three ships have weekly stops at the Port of Malaga, which are the Pacific Dream (Pullmantur) and the Adventure of the Seas (Royal Caribbean) and Louis Majesty, of Louis Cruise Line. Also can be highlighted the shipping company in Malaga, Costa Cruises, which every week brings several of their vessels. Another regular provider, the MSC will begin to operate more regularly from September onwards.

With our company you can book transfers from Malaga Port to any destination.

Months for tourism, increase of seats. This is the proportional rule put in practice in Renfe, the Spanish railway, coinciding with the start of Summer.

The AVE services connecting Madrid to the Costa del Sol and Malaga are among the most demanded by customers, which will have 33.500 additional places for travel between Madrid and Malaga during the summer months.

The total number of seats offered for sale by Renfe for all services provided between Madrid and various cities in Andalusia is 1.4 million over the summer.

The direct AVE trains linking both Malaga and Seville with Barcelona will also have reinforcements.

The reinforcement in trains also attends the traditional mobility that occurs at this time in Andalusia, on trains connecting Seville, with Cadiz, Cordoba and Almeria and the connection Granada-Algeciras.

Moreover, Renfe offers several beach trains in its Middle Distance service to facilitate transportation between inland locations and different beaches during July and August. In the south it reinforces the connection from Cadiz to Seville with an additional train all weekends and public holidays.