HOTEL bosses on the Costa del Sol have renewed calls for a third lane on the A7, warning that Malaga’s chronic traffic problems are now threatening the region’s ability to cope with record visitor numbers.
Aehcos, the Costa del Sol hotel association, said congestion on the A7 has become ‘unmanageable’ in both the eastern and western stretches of the province.
The group said the A7 desperately needs a third lane in the stretches around Puerto Banus and San Pedro in the west and leading into Malaga from Velez Malaga and Rincon de la Victoria from the east.
Local mayors have backed the demand and warn that hours-long bottlenecks are now routine at peak times, with jams spilling across key commuter and tourist corridors.
The hoteliers also criticised the long delays to the long-promised northern access road to Malaga Airport, a project awarded back in 2018 but still not started after it was annulled and redesigned.
They highlighted further blackspots, including the clogged MA-20 between Malaga and Torremolinos, and the need to reconfigure access roads on the Marbella stretch of the A7 around Rio Real, El Rosario and Los Monteros.
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Aehcos pointed to similar problems in the eastern Costa del Sol, where a long-planned upgrade at Caleta de Velez remains on the drawing board.
Other projects, such as improvements to the A-44 Granada–Costa Tropical motorway also remain stalled, despite holiday-weekend gridlock becoming an annual occurrence.
Alongside the road chaos, the hotel sector renewed calls for the long-awaited Costa del Sol coastal train, saying the region’s passenger numbers have outgrown the current network.
They want a clear timetable and funding commitment for the line, along with improvements to the existing Cercanias (short distance train) service, including higher frequencies and carriages with greater capacity.
The association noted that Malaga received almost 14.4 million visitors in 2024, ploughing around €21 billion into the economy and creating 140,000 jobs.
But it warned that transport infrastructure has not kept pace with demand.
They argue that transport failures now harm both residents and businesses, and limit access to jobs in parts of the province where public transport options remain scarce.
Spain’s slow delivery of EU-funded projects was also criticised.
Aehcos said the country has only executed 63% of the transport infrastructure funds allocated under EU programmes, the lowest level in the Union, far behind Portugal’s 100% and Italy’s 70%.
Aehcos represents more than 94,000 hotel beds on the Costa del Sol across 346 accommodation businesses, and regularly lobbies for infrastructure improvements to support tourism — the backbone of the regional economy.
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