Beaches are busy and hotels are enjoying strong occupancy, yet Andalusia’s beach-bar owners are sounding the alarm: tourists are still coming, but they are watching their wallets far more carefully
Spain Expat Press Editorial Team
At first glance, the summer season could hardly look healthier along the Andalusian coast. Beaches are crowded, hotels and holiday apartments are enjoying high occupancy rates and the outlook for September remains remarkably strong.
Yet at the region’s quintessential chiringuitos – the beach bars and restaurants that are such an integral part of life on the southern Spanish coast – a rather different picture is emerging.
The tourists are here. They are simply spending less.
Manuel Villafaina, president of the Andalusian Federation of Beach Businesses, says this is the first summer in which the industry has clearly noticed holidaymakers cutting back on their spending.
According to Villafaina, the cost of living has risen by around 57 per cent since 2020. Beach businesses have passed on only part of that increase, raising their prices by approximately 25 per cent.
Yet turnover remains roughly where it was six years ago.
For the businesses themselves, the implication is stark: they estimate they are selling around 25 per cent less.
The €35 lunch has become a €25 one
Perhaps the clearest evidence can be found on the bill.
A couple of summers ago, customers would typically spend between €30 and €35 per person at a chiringuito. Today, the figure is more likely to be between €20 and €25.
It is not simply a question of spending less. The way people order has changed too.
Rather than filling the table with several dishes at once, customers are increasingly ordering cautiously, finishing what they have before deciding whether to have anything else.
Sharing has become far more common. Where three diners might once have ordered three dishes, two shared plates may now suffice.
Half-portions are particularly popular where they remain available – so much so that some beach restaurants have removed them from their menus.
There has been another noticeable change. Diners are increasingly asking to take leftovers home rather than leaving food on their plates.
For restaurateurs, at least, that has one welcome consequence: less food is being wasted.
Spanish tourists are feeling the squeeze
The change is particularly noticeable among Spanish holidaymakers.
Traditionally, domestic tourists had a reputation for loosening the purse strings while on holiday. That appears to be changing.
Higher housing costs, food prices, fuel bills and increasingly expensive holidays are forcing many households to keep a much closer eye on their budgets.
And the economising does not stop at the restaurant table.
According to Villafaina, some families who might previously have spent a fortnight on the coast are now cutting their holidays to ten days.
Foreign visitors tend to behave somewhat differently. While Spanish customers traditionally visit a chiringuito primarily to eat, international tourists often spend proportionately more on drinks, particularly when their hotel packages already include meals.
Espetos and paella hold their ground
Against this backdrop, two of the great staples of southern Spain’s seaside cuisine remain particularly resilient.
Espetos de sardinas – sardines skewered and grilled over an open fire – remain one of Málaga’s most emblematic dishes and, crucially, one of the more affordable choices. They typically cost between €8 and €10.
Paella remains another favourite, generally priced at between €12 and €18 per portion.
Fish and seafood present a greater challenge.
Products such as squid and coquinas, the tiny clams popular around Málaga, have become considerably more expensive at market. Beach restaurants say they cannot simply pass the full increase on to customers without risking an even sharper fall in demand.
Menu prices have already risen by an average of around seven per cent this year, according to Villafaina.
With fuel costs also adding to suppliers’ transport bills, businesses find themselves caught between rising costs and customers increasingly unwilling – or unable – to pay more.
The increasingly expensive Spanish seaside holiday
The squeeze goes well beyond the price of lunch.
A holiday on the Costa del Sol and elsewhere along Andalusia’s coastline has become considerably more expensive in recent years.
Accommodation now consumes a substantial share of many families’ holiday budgets, while the cost of eating out, groceries, fuel, car hire and leisure activities has also risen.
On the Costa del Sol, the average hotel room across Málaga province was already costing around €214 a night in June, according to the latest tourism price barometer – making it one of Spain’s most expensive coastal destinations.
At the luxury end of the market, the figures are considerably higher. A night in a five-star hotel on the Costa del Sol averaged more than €500.
For many visitors, therefore, a sizeable proportion of their holiday budget has disappeared before they have even sat down at a beachside table.
Yet tourism itself is far from struggling
That is what makes the situation particularly striking.
There is little evidence of a tourism crisis in Andalusia.
Visitor numbers remain strong, hotels are busy and international tourism continues to generate enormous sums for the regional economy.
The apparent contradiction can be explained by where that money is going.
Higher overall tourist expenditure does not necessarily translate into more money being spent in every bar and restaurant. As accommodation, travel and other fixed holiday costs rise, visitors may have less disposable cash left for meals, drinks and spontaneous purchases.
The result is an increasingly curious phenomenon: tourists can be spending more on their holiday overall while simultaneously spending less once they reach the chiringuito.
Costa del Sol hotels remain close to capacity
The latest hotel figures make that contradiction particularly clear.
Málaga province ended August with an average hotel occupancy rate of 92.85 per cent, slightly higher than the 92.15 per cent recorded in August 2025.
Several of the Costa del Sol’s best-known resorts performed even better. Benalmádena reached 96.2 per cent occupancy, Torremolinos 95.5 per cent and Mijas 94.4 per cent. Fuengirola and Málaga city both reached 93.5 per cent, while Marbella recorded 92.4 per cent.
International travellers accounted for around 60.5 per cent of hotel guests.
And the end of August is unlikely to bring the season to an abrupt halt.
Current forecasts suggest hotel occupancy across Málaga province will remain at around 88.6 per cent in September, with Torremolinos expected to reach 93 per cent and Málaga city more than 91 per cent.
Even October is currently forecast to achieve occupancy of around 83 per cent.
The message is difficult to miss: the hotels are full and the beaches are busy. It is spending habits that are changing.
July and August no longer have the coast to themselves
For beach businesses, there is at least one encouraging development.
The traditional summer season is becoming longer.
May and June were particularly strong months for many chiringuitos this year. July began more slowly before recovering, while August followed a similar pattern.
The days when July and August overwhelmingly determined the success or failure of the year are gradually disappearing.
September, October and even November are becoming increasingly important, helped by Andalusia’s climate and the growing importance of international visitors.
For northern European tourists in particular, the early autumn can be an attractive time to visit southern Spain: temperatures are less intense, the sea remains warm and most of the coastal tourism infrastructure is still operating.
Thousands of businesses depend on the beach economy
This is far from a niche concern for the Andalusian economy.
There are around 2,200 chiringuitos along the Andalusian coast, according to the regional beach-business federation.
Málaga province alone has 484 beach establishments, which directly generate more than 20,000 jobs.
Their economic footprint stretches much further, supporting fishermen, food wholesalers, drinks suppliers, transport companies and countless other local businesses.
The summer of 2026 is therefore telling two very different stories.
One is a familiar tale of packed beaches, busy hotels and huge numbers of international visitors.
The other is playing out quietly at the tables of Andalusia’s chiringuitos.
There, customers are sharing more dishes, scrutinising prices, taking their leftovers home and perhaps ordering two drinks where once they would have had three.
Andalusia does not have a problem attracting holidaymakers. The challenge now is ensuring that, as the cost of a holiday continues to rise, enough of that money still finds its way into the local businesses that make the Spanish seaside experience what it is.
