The Guiris are back, much to the relief of the struggling Costa Tropical tourist sector - during the summer it was national tourism but as autumn arrives that has dried up.

Yes, on weekends, droves of Granainos hurtle down the autovia and hit the chiringuitos, but Costa Tropical needs the steady but lucrative trade of resident and visiting foreigners from all over Europe and beyond.

Things have changed a lot since the late 70s and early 80s when the only language you heard on the streets of Almuñécar was Spanish.

The foreign population was so small that everybody knew each other but now, there are many people that have been living here for around a decade that you have never met because there are quite simply so many. Not ‘so many’ as on a Nerja Level, but certainly ‘so many’ than before.

Last year, with the pandemic in full swing, nobody could reach the Costa Tropical so foreign tourism was as rare as unicorn sightings but now the cruise ships are returning and Málaga Airport is thronging with foreign visitors.

Nordic pensioners are the best thing since slice bread as far as restaurants and chiringuitos go and no doubt these northern visitors will be giggling in the surf on Christmas day whilst Spaniards look on aghast!

French visitors are occupying an ever increasing slice of the foreign tourism trade (the way it used to be in the 60s) who together with German, Belgian, Dutch and British residents and tourists make up the backbone of the tourism trade.

The hotels along the whole of the Costa Tropical – the majority of which are in Almuñécar – are seriously considering remaining open this winter, whereas last autumn 90% of hotel capacity was closed down for the season. So far, only Hotel Albaycín del Mar has confirmed that it will close for winter.

This winter Chinasol is banking on a Swedish invasion with their fingers and eyes crossed.

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)