Promotion of Marbella in Scandinavia

Nine tourism companies from Malaga will take part in a trade mission that started Sunday and will continue until the 16th of this month, transfering to Norway and then Sweden. This trade mission has been organized by the Chamber of Tourism and aims to promote tourism on the Costa del Sol.

The number of visitors from these two countries has increased significantly, with roughly a 20% increase in tourist arrivals from these two countries. Companies will have custom agendas designed by the cameral agency to hold meetings with local firms.
The companies involved include many of Marbella's leading hotels and are: Hotel Costa del Sol Meliá, Abies Travel, Hotel La Viñuela, Viajes Karisma, Hotel Pyr Marbella, Citi Travel, Atalaya Park, Hotel Meliá Don Pepe, and Hotel Meliá Marbella Banus.

They will spend two days each in Oslo and Stockholm, the 11th and 12th in the first city and the 14th and 15th in the second. The companies that they will get in touch with are tour operators, travel companies specializing in incentive and corporate travel and congress and events. They hope to transfer enthusiasm for the event.

During these meetings, Malaga’s travel companies will present their facilities and service offerings, hoping to attract new tourists and strengthen these two markets, which are extremely important for the Costa del Sol’s tourism sector.

Even before the trip, a travel agency from Norway has shown great interest in one of the companies from Malaga, even starting to enter into negotiations to finalize and close the visit of a tourist group from Norway thanks to the most excellent work of the Chamber of Commerce in Marbella.

The business delegation will visit the Spanish Tourism Offices in Oslo and Stockholm to hold meetings, as these offices have offered to cooperate with the Chamber of Commerce. These two Nordic markets are of great importance to the Malaga region, and both have experienced significant growth in recent years.

Norway’s economic outstanding variables affect their willingness to travel, Spain being one of their favorite destinations when going abroad. In fact it was the second of all trips during the first nine months of 2012, only just behind Sweden.

In 2012, 1.2 million Norwegians visited Spain, showing an annual increase of 11.6%, and in the province of Malaga, and specifially the Marbella area, the arrival’s numbers have increased by 16.77%.

Andalucia is the Swedes’ favorite destination in Spain, with 176.597 travelers recorded last year. More specifically, the increase of Swedish visitors arriving to the Malaga airport was almost 19%, mainly arriving at Malaga airport on flights without transfer. Total tourist expenditure of the Swedes in Spain reached 5.054 million euros, an large increase of 9.7% from 2011, according to data released by the Chamber of Commerce.