Ángeles Muñoz
Marbella is a tourist city in Andalusia (Spain). It’s an ideal place to visit, live and invest, according to Ángeles Muñoz, who first became mayor of Marbella in 2007 and was re-elected for the fourth time in 2019. We spoke to Ángeles Muñoz about the city’s development plans, economy, tourism and its uncompromising stance on banning construction work in the green zone.
–Marbella is a tourist city located on the Costa del Sol. What would you advise tourists to visit first?
–Marbella is an ideal city in which to live and invest and, of course, to visit. To tourists who arrive for the first time in our city, I would recommend a walk through our wonderful Old Town to make purchases in our local shops and exclusive boutiques and a stroll along our coastal path that runs parallel to the beaches (a 27-kilometer seafront promenade that is unique to Europe). Tourists will also enjoy participating in our sporting (e.g., golf) cultural and leisure events and tasting our culinary offerings.
Our attractions mean that our city’s tourism sector enjoys great strength, which allowed it to recover – in record time – after the pandemic and has obtained historic visitor numbers this year. A recent example has been the fact that the municipality has recorded 2.5 million overnight stays during the first ten months of this year, exceeding – by more than 84,000 – the number in the entire 2022 financial year.
At the city council, we have been working and betting on reducing seasonality, and the results are very positive. We are also going to continue strengthening the Marbella brand at the national and international level, along with actions such as attending the main tourist fairs, such as Fitur in Madrid, World Travel Market in London and the ITB in Berlin, among many others. We will also campaign in markets such as America, Asia and, of course, the Arabian Peninsula, where we have had a great projection and an important relationship for many years.
Mayor of Marbella