Cabo de Palos diving centers are working at full capacity, but many sailing schools have closed
Strange, like the times that run. This is how this All Saints bridge passes on the Murcian coast, where the heat has led more tourists than expected to occupy hotel rooms, with a preference for hotels over apartments. Occupancy has also increased in open establishments, due to the fact that some coastal accommodation, such as Galúa and Doblemar, in La Manga, have already closed for the end of the season.
According to data from the Association of Tourist Accommodation of the Costa Cálida (Hostetur), the apartments have had a “loose” occupancy, while in some hotels, such as Thalasia (San Pedro del Pinatar), they have been full last Saturday and above 75% on Sunday and Monday of the long weekend. The Cavanna, one of the giants of La Manga, has in these weeks, in addition, with the squares of the Imserso.
Tourists have left a good balance in the hotels of the Mar Menor, such as in the Costa Narejos (Los Alcázares) and the Traíña (San Pedro del Pinatar), but also in Águilas, where the Juan Montiel hotel has had a high occupancy. The Villas Caravaning campsite has also received last-minute tourists. In the hotels Los Delfines and Las Gaviotas, in La Manga, occupancy has been around 40%.
The worst figures have been recorded in coastal apartments, such as Londres, Villas La Manga or Valmanga (La Manga) and Collados (Águilas). According to Dionisio García, from Hostetur and the Mar Menor Nautical Station, national tourism tends to prevail on this bridge, especially families with children, and groups of British visitors starting the golf season. “It is a complicated season, after a summer in which the anoxia that everyone announced in the Mar Menor has not occurred, which has surrounded the plans of businessmen with uncertainty,” he explains. With such a “punished” image, Hostetur misses “a campaign to promote water sports in the fall with the best temperatures in living memory.”
star dives
The weather has made scuba diving in the Cabo de Palos reserve the star plan for families. “They are in high demand on weekends and this bridge has been almost completely full, while the nautical bases have closed almost all due to lack of public,” explains García. Another attraction of the bridge in the Mar Menor has been the thalassotherapy center of San Pedro del Pinatar, although the director of the Thalasia complex, José Catalá, assures that “the spa attracts more with more autumnal weather”.
The hotel registers full on weekends and has positive forecasts for the winter, since in November it will begin to receive more than twenty football teams and national teams from various countries to play their friendly matches.
The slab of inflation
Despite the good expectations, the director of Thalasia assures that “the situation is tragic for the hotel sector, since, with occupations above 2019, we have between 30% and 40% less profit due to inflation”. This economic slab increases costs by up to 50% in the catering section. “Most businessmen are making an enormous effort not to raise prices in the proportion that they have to pay for raw materials,” says Catalá.
The hostels also maintain the type with an occupation of around 60%-70%. The thirteen tourist hostels associated with the Federation of Hostels of the Region of Murcia, located in Águilas, Cartagena, Cabo de Palos, Los Alcázares, San Pedro del Pinatar or Murcia, are recovering the interrelationship between travellers, one of the driving forces of this tourism model. «We have improved in quality and services, but the price has not risen. We are a very appealing option for any pocket”, says the president of Hostels, Manuel Guillén.
The INE estimates the influx of travelers in September at 159,136
The Region recorded the best month of September in the historical series in terms of influx in its tourist accommodation with 159,136 travelers, according to data from the Occupation Surveys of the National Institute of Statistics (INE). This volume of travelers exceeds the previous record of September 2019, with 155,087, and represents a growth rate of 2.6% compared to that month, compared to an increase for the whole of Spain of 0.2%.
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