Malaga and Marbella to see quicker recovery

9 December 2013

Economic experts and business leaders are predicting that Malaga and Marbella will be the first cities alongside Madrid and Barcelona in overcoming the crisis. They believe that the cities are in the bottom of the cycle and that a healthy recovery will be quite quick. They point out that in order for this improvement to be transferred to job creation it will be necessary for businesses to become more innovative to differentiate themselves, to adapt to the new reality offered by new technologies, to become larger and reinforce their internationalization. Marbella Taxis have already made steps in order to be more innovative and keep up to date with technology.

They are right, at least in part. Costa del Sol is attracting a good deal of foreign market and investors interest once again. It has gone from being a problem – legal insecurity, corruption cases in Marbella and Estepona- to become a real business opportunity. Businessmen such as Ricardo Arranz, owner of Villa Padierna Hotel in Marbella and Cristóbal Peñarrobia, owner of Holiday World resort among others quite genuinely believe so.

The ability to address internationalization, their commitment to R+C and the usage of ICTs are the main challenges and also will become the main strengths of businesses as they transfer their way out of the crisis affecting Marbella.

Speed and intensity of economic recovery will depend to a large extent on markets perceiving the right conditions for investing. In Malaga, investment is not only due to favorable conditions, but also to how attractive the projects is. The capital has transformed itself as a tourist destination and it has turned into the province’s town with the most number of tourists staying in hotels. Last year, it was the second urban tourist destination in Spain in growth, just behind Bilbao.

Macroeconomic conditions are improving little by little in regards to external inversion and transferring business confidence. In any case, there is still a ways to go, especially in areas such as employment and domestic consumption.

Top Digital, Novasol, Famadesa, Viveros Guzmán, Faccsa, Dcoop (formerly Hojiblanca), Aertec or GE XXI are some of the examples to follow in reactivating the economy in the Malaga province.