HEALTHPLAN MAGAZINE

On the 26th June 2012, Malaga Airport are planning to open a second runway. This comes as great news of course for the airport itself, but also for holiday makers and the tourist industry in general. The general consensus is that this is a leap in the right direction and can only help to assist with Spain’s economic recovery.

After 5 years of planning and the expense of around 400 million Euros, the opening of the second runway will see the hourly capability of the airports handling of traffic, practically double. This will see an increase of passengers grow to 10,000, with amazing 72 flights landing and taking off every hour!

This wonderful news provides a huge boost to the local tourist industry including holiday transfer companies, taxi firms, golf courses and hotels by increasing the Costa del Sol’s tourist levels - this will surely help to improve the country's financial situation.

The Costa del Sol still remains Europe’s number one holiday destination. With an average of 3 million visitors each year, taking advantage of the warmer weather and the friendly greeting received in many of its popular resorts. Malaga, Puerto Banus, Marbella, Torremolinos and Nerja are just a few places from a long list of favourite areas to stay. With Malaga airport soon having the capability of handling so many more flights, many more countries and airlines will also be able to experience just what makes Spain so popular.

The current exchange rate is something else we should think about. At the moment the Euro is having trouble standing on it’s own against other more established currencies such as Sterling. This means that your money goes further as you can buy a good deal more Euros with your Pound or any other non-Euro currencies. Taking this into account, means the price of your holiday will be much kinder on your pocket!

A good example to use is the UK. A mere six months or so ago the Pound itself was struggling against a very strong Euro.The currencies at one time, were actually at a parallel. But the turn around now shows it is the Euro struggling to hold its own. The current exchange rates actually show that currencies such as the Pound Sterling are rising. At the moment you can buy 1.26 Euros with 1 GBP, this equates to an increase of 25% on what it was just a few short months ago! What this does mean of course, is that property prices and holidays in Spain are very much cheaper. This can also be said of many other non-Euro currencies not just the Pound Sterling.

All this tells us that the opening of the second runway has come at a very good time. The second runway will also raise the standing of Malaga Airport, bringing it to the level of several of Spain’s other airports including El Prat (Barcelona), Palma de Mallorca (Majorca), Barajas (Madrid) and Gran Canaria.

Image courtesy of Terry Wha on Flickr.