Costa Del Sol "The Sunshine Coast"

History of Costa Del Sol
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History of Costa Del Sol, Spain

The tourist history of Costa del Sol goes back to the 1950s when the area began to receive a massive influx of foreign visitors, most of them from the United Kingdom, France and Germany. It was elite tourism that, by that time, looked for exclusive and private areas and at the same time a beautiful and peaceful place to relax. The origin of the name Costa del Sol is not clear, but the first time it appeared was on occasion of the Latin American Exhibition of Seville, in 1929. It is attributed to an Austrian consul who constantly travelled to the area and he thought of this name due to the nice climate of the region. The first sign of tourism took place in Torremolinos. At the end of the 40th decade, when a castle of an English millionaire – The Castle of Santa Clara – was turned into a residence to receive guests. From this moment small hotels started to be built, in parallel to the arrival of famous characters from the European high society and international movie stars. Slowly, the industry began to expand to other areas of the region until 1954, when a significant event in the development of the Costa Del Sol took place: Marbella was officially born.

A favourite haunt of various aristocracies, jet setters and assorted barons from Europe; discos, casinos and luxurious hotels started to proliferate. In this way, from Marbella, another expansive wave of the tourism industry began that involved most of today's well-known and famous destinations, bringing about a huge development in accommodation as well as amusement parks, waterparks and cultural centres. Thus, the hugely varied amount of activities on offer along the Costa del Sol gives ample reason why, in 2004, it attracted over 10 million tourists.