14 March, 2018

By VIVA Team

Qatar_airlines_blog

In a landmark announcement, Qatar Airways are now operating long-distance flights between Málaga and Doha, which many hope will give rise to renewed investment in the Costa del Sol from the Middle East.

The world is getting smaller: that much we know. As long-range transport and aviation technology improve, so do our possibilities of getting to “the other side of the world” in increasingly fewer stages, stopovers and flight connections. No clearer is this than in a recent announcement by Qatar Airways regarding the launch of 19 new routes from its hub in Doha…


Of these 19 routes, European destinations feature heavily, including Mykonos, Cardiff, Lisbon and our very own Málaga-Costa del Sol airport. The latter from Málaga – Spain’s fourth busiest airport – to Doha is now live and the excitement surrounding it is palpable for two main reasons…

On the one hand, expats here on the Costa del Sol are now able to fly to the Middle East with considerable ease, whereas until now departing from larger airports like Madrid or Barcelona has added several hours on to a traveller’s total journey time and has put many a holidaymaker off such a convoluted travel itinerary. Although the Holiday Habits Report 2017 by ABTA found that two thirds of UK citizens intended to holiday within Europe over the following 12 months – good news again for the Costa del Sol – there are still many expats who have a penchant for holidaying in the Far East, for whom this news is extremely welcome.

On the other hand, the announcement of this route has sparked the interest of many business owners from various sectors across the Costa del Sol, not least the property sector. With an influx of tourism from the Middle East, the region could stand to benefit from a significant continued investment.

How so? Well… Qatar itself topped the IMF’s list of richest countries in 2017 and also consistently boasts one of the highest GDP per capita figures of any nation. In fact, the IMF predicts Qatar’s GDP per capita in 2018 to be $65,160, which translates as a whole lot of purchasing power… especially when compared against Spain’s GDP per capita of $30,690 and even that of the UK ($40,003).

The Middle East as a region is no stranger to investment in Spain. It accounted for 8% of property transactions on the Costa del Sol back in January 2017, but this investment could reach new heights in 2018 (and beyond) now that transport routes between the two areas are more readily available.