They are looking for five-star hotels for their holidays, but also luxury villas to stay in. Their purchasing power is high and, in the city, the red carpet has already been rolled out for them. Americans are the fastest-growing tourist market in Marbella (Málaga, 150,725 inhabitants), but their interest in acquiring real estate has also multiplied. Events such as the Solheim Cup golf course, held on the Costa del Sol in 2023, or the launch of a daily flight between the capital of Malaga and New York, for five months a year, have facilitated this growth. “It was a pending subject,” says the general director of Tourism at the City Council, Laura de Arce. Not anymore. “The evolution of the American market has been truly remarkable,” confirms Juan Cabanillas, general director of the prestigious Marbella Club hotel. The city “is considered the California of Europe,” adds Ignacio Pérez Díaz, executive president of La Zagaleta, the most luxurious urbanisation on the old continent that already attracts entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley.
American tourism was common in Marbella in the 1980s. However, it came to an end at the beginning of the 1990s for a rather unusual reason: the Gulf War. The conflict was 5,000 kilometres from Malaga, but for Americans, travelling to the Costa del Sol was dangerous “because a bomb could fall in the area”, as De Arce recounts, still surprised. She was working at the Don Carlos hotel at the time and remembers that a group of girls from the United States who stayed there made headlines for their audacity in travelling to the Costa del Sol. “Since then, we had a thorn in our side. And, after the pandemic, we saw that it was time to recover this market”, stresses the manager.
The 2023 Solheim Cup, a women’s golf competition that pits Europe against the United States, at Finca Cortesín, in Casares, just 40 kilometres from Marbella’s historic centre, represented an opportunity to achieve this. The municipality began with campaigns linked to this sport and already in 2022 the number of North American tourists grew by 10% compared to the previous year. It then boosted the promotion with the Spanish Luxury Association with trips to Miami and New York, as well as various actions with Turespaña, Turismo Andaluz and the Costa del Sol Tourism Board.
Last June, the results validated the work. The Hotel Occupancy Survey data published by the Andalusian Government showed, for the first time, that Americans were in third place in terms of number of travellers with 3,495, only behind the Spanish and the English. These are still modest figures, but they show a trend that the city celebrates because they are visitors with very high purchasing power. “It has been a collective effort,” applauds De Arce, who also highlights the promotional role played by luxury hotels.
The historic Marbella Club has been working with this market for more than 15 years, with which it has good relations thanks to the seasons that Prince Alfonso de Hohenlohe spent in California. The number of Americans staying there has grown exponentially. So much so that in 2024, when it celebrates its 70th anniversary, it has become the main market – above the United Kingdom – with 20% more nights of stay and a 35% increase in spending compared to 2023. They are now opting for higher categories, such as the establishment’s 17 villas – whose prices range between 10,000 and 15,000 euros per night – as well as rooms with rates from 1,500 to 3,500 euros per day.
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Golf courses, luxury shops, events such as the Starlite Festival and the gastronomic offer “make Marbella the city chosen by Americans,” insists Christopher Clover, owner and CEO of Panorama, the oldest real estate agency in the municipality. “More people are coming and we are noticing it,” says Marcos Granda, owner of two Michelin-starred restaurants: Nintai and Skina, which has two stars and menus ranging from 294 to 529 euros per person.
The California of Europe
Clover says that the frequent presence of stars such as Eva Longoria, Antonio Banderas or Robert de Niro – owner of Nobu Hotel – also has an influence. And that, just as many Americans come for a few days of vacation, others are opting for longer stays or even staying to live. Jimmy Widen, founder of the luxury real estate agency 3SA State, has confirmed this. He says that in 2022 he barely had any clients from the United States, but in 2023 there were already some and that in 2024 the demand has increased by 1,000%.
“This year we have 24 American families renting with us,” he explains. The possibility of working from home is one of the big factors, but also the launch of a direct flight between Malaga and New York chartered by United Airlines, which this year, for the first time, flies daily between May and September. “Then it becomes a game of recommendations. When satisfied Americans start talking to their friends, they come too,” adds Widen, who predicts that, during 2025, they will be, together with Canadians, the main group of foreign buyers in Spain. At the moment they only represent 1.58%, according to data from the College of Registrars.
Most people are looking for luxury villas. “There are those who want to spend half a million to have a nice apartment, live there for a while and rent it out for the rest of the year. Others are looking for something worth two million because they are going to stay for a few months. And there are also those who want to buy properties worth 14 or 15 million,” says Benjamin Beza, commercial director of The Agency, one of the largest companies in the real estate sector, born in Los Angeles and whose offices in Marbella opened their doors at the end of 2023, its third headquarters in all of Europe after Amsterdam and Mallorca.
“Marbella is one of the jewels of Europe and you have to be here,” stresses Beza, who points out that the presence of giants such as Google or Caterpillar in the city of Malaga has also generated buzz in the American country. “In addition, Americans are becoming aware of the lifestyle here,” he adds. He highlights issues such as gastronomy, climate, culture or hospitality, but also public health or security – with drug trafficking violence as an exception – which is already attracting a new generation, since the main buyers are between 25 and 44 years old.
They also come for the prices: a mansion that costs 40 or 50 million in Miami or Los Angeles costs 15 or 20 million in La Zagaleta, one of the most luxurious residential areas in Europe. There, in fact, they have noticed a change in profile after the pandemic: from senior businessmen from northern Europe to “successful executives and entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley,” according to Ignacio Pérez Díaz, executive president of La Zagaleta.
They are between 35 and 40 years old, come mainly from the American east coast, come with their families and are “big businessmen and managers” who also benefit from roads, trains and the Costa del Sol airport – which they can reach in 15 minutes by helicopter – to quickly reach all of Europe from Malaga. It is “the perfect setting”, concludes Pérez Díaz.
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