One of the biggest problems in the tourism sector, and by extension, all over the Costa del Sol, has traditionally been what is called estacionalidad in Spanish, meaning business being subject to seasonal ups and downs. Or to put it in simple language, the problem is that business is good in summer and bad in winter.
This trend is now worrying the businesses all along the coast. However the figures for Nerja show that some 200 new businesses have opened in the municipality over the past year. Most of them are in the restaurant, real estate and souvenir and gift shop sectors, and only five per cent of them have opened their doors without having all the necessary permits.
In many cases, they are run by foreigners who have gone through the necessary bureaucratic processes only after having been warned by the Town Hall that they would be closed down unless they complied with all the legal requisites.
The number of businesses closing down last year amounted to 150, but since this figure includes temporary closure due to change of ownership, the real figure is 60. Most of these businesses were foreign owned.
British top the list
The number of businesses in the municipality is 1,700, a third of which are bars and estate agencies owned by foreigners. About 140 of them are owned by Britons, followed by Argentinians, Germans, Scandinavians, Chinese and Indians. The British own most of the foreign-run estate agencies, while the Germans and Scandinavians are mostly involved in bars catering mainly to their fellow countrymen. The Argentinians tend to run telephone call centres and gift shops, and the Moroccans own most of the cheap souvenir shops that are found, principally, in the streets leading on to the Balcón de Europa. Curiously, five medical and physiotherapy clinics were opened by Finns during 2003. There are also some new herbalist businesses specialising in teas and coffees.
Statistically, Nerja, with a population of 19,700 people, is a very business-oriented town, having 11.5 people per business. Many people in business in the town consider this figure to be too high.
Once more, the seasonal nature is beginning to become a problem in Nerja, with ten per cent of the town’s businesses closing in the wintertime, due to falling profit margins once the summer season has ended.
Source: Sur in English
