Here on the Costa Tropical, the hotels are smiling a little after registering the highest occupancy figures for the first fortnight of July since the crisis began.

But this has come at a price, because the 4-star hotels in Almuñécar have had to come up with such offers that might fill the hotels, but only turn over a minimum profit – better that then a loss. The fact is the highest cost to bear for a hotel is an empty room.

Hotel Victoria Playa, Hotel Playa Cotobro, Hotel Bahia and Hotel Helios are offering free child places, and by children, we mean up to 14 years – previous years it was eleven or twelve. Under normal circumstance you might get a 50% discount on the second child, but now your getting 100% discount on the first.

A couple with two children could stay for a week in July, all inclusive, for around 700 euros – unthinkable before the crisis. Is it any wonder that on average hotels have seen a 10% increase on occupancy figures compared to last year?

Whilst the hotels have been making it cheaper for guests, things have become more expensive for them – just like for everybody else – having to absorb the increases in IVA and electricity bills.

La Herradura’s four star, Hotel Sol Fenicios became the first hotel on the Costa Tropical to announce itself as a ‘no children hotel’ but they have gone back on that and now admit families.

So, good news for our hotels, at last, and logically for the coastal towns in general, because full hotels means more tourists, even if they don’t wander far from their all-inclusive hotels.

(News: Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)