We attended the Fourth Conference on Residential tourism in the Region of Murcia organized by the association of developers of the Region of Murcia (APIRM). An interesting day of exchanging opinions and different points of views from which we draw many conclusions.
“The natural growth and development of the Region of Murcia is fomented by residential tourism”. These words by the Minister of Tourism of the CARM, Pedro Alberto Cruz, summarizes the reality facing the region, not only in the future but in the present.
The importance of this type of tourism is a reality assuming 71.5 % of the total annual tourism, resulting in a total number of 3,700,000 tourists that visit Murcia do so in some form of residential tourism.
While it is true that most of those who are staying in their own property or rent a holiday home in the region are Spanish , residential tourism by foreigners continues to increase (today is 20%). The improved infrastructure will cause an additional important increase. Antonio Sevilla, counselor of this area in the region, spoke at the conference of the high speed train to the region and the international airport Corvera.
These two improvements in communications on the Costa Calida are of vital importance if we consider a point in which all international actors emphasized: the foreigner does not want his residence at a distance of more than 50 minutes from the airport when arriving in Spain.
Nearby services and amenities, both health and choice of leisure and culture, are becoming increasingly important as they come to Spain more often, throughout the whole year, precisely because of the improved communication that reduces travel time. The traditional annual visit of a month in summer is now complemented with getaways, long weekends and Christmas or Spring holidays. As an example, one of the participating agencies commented that residents and tourists from the Benelux are visiting 5 to 8 times a year.
Another related fact to the importance of nearby amenities is that the age of the average buyer has dropped amongst nearly all nationalities and therefore they come to Spain with family and they are more eager to do more and different things.
Esta entrada también está disponible en: Spanish