On the Costa del Sol, congress and meetings tourism has found an ideal home owing, doubtlessly, to several factors that come together in this area and that favour the growth of this tourism segment which is constantly broadening its horizons. The benign climate, the province of Málaga’s natural conditions, a hotel infrastructure that is capable of providing optimum services for the heaviest demand, and the presence of four large facilities especially designed for hosting congresses and fairs have placed the Costa del Sol in the very first rank in respect to meetings tourism.

To these conditions should be added the fact that Málaga is now the most dynamic province in Andalusia and one of the most outstanding in Spain in the business and commercial context. This position has to be an attraction when it comes to scheduling in one of its congress palaces conventions relating to a field to which some of the firms located in the province belong. The University of Málaga and especially the Technological Park of Andalusia, located very close to the capital, are also institutions that contribute, especially in the cultural and scientific areas, to the fact that the name of Málaga is linked not only to tourism but also to other very dynamic and constantly expanding sectors whose representatives for some time now have included Málaga among the places for holding their meetings.

The inauguration of the Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones de la Costa del Sol in Torremolinos more than three decades ago involved the Costa del Sol in a tourist activity that, while it was far from being unknown, had not achieved the growth it would later experience. Years after this first congress palace went into operation the specific infrastructure for improving the meetings tourism offer would be expanded until achieving at the present time an unusual diversification of the that product.

The Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones de la Costa del Sol, (Costa del Sol Congress and Expositions Palace), inaugurated in the early 1970’s, has adapted to changing times by incorporating modern technologies and by updating its facilities, thus remaining competitive.

This unusual congress palace, only four kilometres from the Pablo Ruiz International Airport and very close to downtown Torremolinos and the Mediterranean Expressway, has ten meeting halls with capacities of from 50 to 500 people, as well as a translucent space of more than 5,000 square metres, distributed between two floors, for holding expositions. Its circular structure brings all the services closer together and makes it easier to get around the building.

The meeting halls’ equipment includes simultaneous translation in five languages, slide and overhead projectors, video, monitors, fixed and wireless microphones and all those features that facilitate the proper hosting of a congress. On the exterior, a car park with capacity for more than 600 vehicles stretches between spacious and well-tended gardens that command a beautiful view of the Bay of Málaga.

Seeing that the prospects for meetings tourism, far from being exhausted, were growing, Marbella decided to build its own congress palace, both to satisfy a clearly growing demand and to take advantage of its position as an international tourist resort and of its supply of luxury hotels. The Palacio de Ferias y Congresos de Marbella (Marbella Fairs and Congresses Palace) stands on the so-called “Golden Mile” and is thus very close to the city. It is 50 kilometres from the Málaga international airport and 75 from Gibraltar, a fact that does not go unnoticed by congress organisers.