13/10/2026
THE COSTA DEL SOL CANNOT SELL A WORLD-CLASS LIFESTYLE WHILE ITS WORKERS CANNOT AFFORD TO LIVE HERE
Tourism and luxury development create prosperity. But if the people who sustain that prosperity can no longer live near their jobs, our growth model is incomplete.
The Costa del Sol has become one of Europe’s most successful international destinations.
We have world-class hotels, restaurants, beach clubs, golf resorts, medical facilities and residential developments. Marbella, Estepona, Benahavís, Mijas and Málaga continue to attract visitors, investors, entrepreneurs and new residents from around the world.
I believe in that growth.
As a real estate professional working on the Costa del Sol, I see every day how international investment creates opportunities, improves neighbourhoods, supports local businesses and strengthens the region’s global position.
But I also see another reality.
The people who make this destination function are increasingly struggling to live here.
Hotel employees, restaurant staff, nurses, teachers, police officers, construction professionals, administrators and young families are being pushed further away from the communities in which they work.
This is no longer only a social issue.
It is becoming a serious economic and operational risk for the Costa del Sol.
We measure occupancy. Why don’t we measure workforce housing?
Every major hotel or tourism development begins with detailed calculations.
Developers and operators forecast:
• construction costs;• occupancy rates;• room revenue;• operating expenditure;• staffing levels;• transport requirements;• projected returns;• long-term profitability.
They know how many guests the project will accommodate.
They know approximately how many employees it will require.
They can estimate payroll, food and beverage revenue, maintenance costs and energy consumption.
But where is the equivalent calculation for the people who will operate the business?
Where will they live?
How much of their salary will be consumed by rent?
Can they reach the workplace without spending hours in traffic?
Does the surrounding residential market have enough long-term accommodation to absorb the additional demand?
These questions are rarely treated as fundamental elements of a project’s viability.
They should be.
The warning signs are already visible
In September 2026, hotels in Málaga province recorded occupancy of almost 90%. That level of activity confirms the strength of our destination, even during a period of slightly slower growth.
At the same time, the hotel industry says housing has become its number-one recruitment problem.
In April 2026, representatives of the Costa del Sol hotel sector said establishments were increasingly limiting recruitment to people who already lived in the same municipality or nearby. According to information provided by trade unions, three out of four workers arriving from other provinces were unable to find accommodation on the Costa del Sol.
This is not an abstract prediction.
Some hotels are already considering leasing or purchasing accommodation for employees. Puente Romano acquired a building near Marbella intended to house staff, while other operators have explored private transport services connecting workplaces with Málaga, Coín and the Guadalhorce Valley.
These companies are responding because the market is forcing them to.
The question is whether we continue treating each case as an isolated recruitment problem or finally recognise it as a structural challenge for the entire region.
This problem does not stop at the doors of a hotel
The housing shortage affects far more than hospitality.
In April 2026, the CSIF union reported that some healthcare professionals accepting contracts at Marbella’s Hospital Costa del Sol were sleeping in cars or motorhomes because they could not secure affordable accommodation. Others were reportedly travelling very long distances or declining contracts altogether.
Think about what that means.
We can attract millions of visitors.
We can sell multimillion-euro homes.
We can promote Marbella as an international destination for health, wellbeing and quality of life.
Yet some of the professionals responsible for providing essential services cannot establish a normal life near their workplace.
A destination cannot call itself sustainable if the nurse treating residents, the teacher educating their children or the hotel employee serving their guests has nowhere reasonable to live.
Real estate is not the enemy — but it must be part of the solution
The housing debate is often reduced to an argument between development and restriction.
That is too simplistic.
Stopping investment will not automatically create affordable homes.
Punishing every property owner will not resolve a structural shortage.
And blaming international buyers ignores the failures of planning, infrastructure, transport and housing delivery accumulated over many years.
The Costa del Sol needs investment.
It needs responsible developers.
It needs international buyers and long-term residents.
It needs hotels, restaurants and businesses capable of competing internationally.
But it also needs a functioning residential market for the people who keep those businesses operating.
Luxury development and workforce housing should not be treated as opposing objectives.
They are two parts of the same economic system.
If one grows while the other disappears, the entire system becomes unstable.
My proposal: a Workforce Housing and Mobility Plan
For every major new tourism development, large resort, hotel expansion or employment-intensive commercial project, planning applications should include a Workforce Housing and Mobility Plan.
This should answer five straightforward questions:
1. How many permanent and seasonal jobs will the project create?2. How many positions can realistically be filled by people already living within a reasonable commuting distance?3. What additional demand for long-term accommodation will the project generate?4. Can the existing housing and transport infrastructure absorb that demand?5. If it cannot, what measurable contribution will the developer or operator make?
The solution does not have to be the same for every project.
One development might construct or convert accommodation for employees.
Another might sign long-term leases with housing providers.
A third might fund reliable staff transport from inland municipalities where housing is more accessible.
Developers could also contribute to public-private rental projects, support deposit guarantees for employees or help bring empty properties back into the long-term rental market.
The objective should not be to impose an arbitrary solution.
The objective should be to require an evidence-based one.
If a commercial project depends on hundreds of workers, its feasibility assessment should account for the ability of those workers to live or travel to work.
That is not anti-business regulation.
It is responsible business planning.
We must also make long-term renting work again
New construction alone will not solve this problem quickly enough.
We also need to encourage more existing property owners to offer homes on the long-term market.
Many owners avoid long-term rentals because they fear:
• non-payment;• damage to the property;• lengthy legal procedures;• regulatory uncertainty;• losing control of their asset.
Ignoring those concerns will not produce more rental supply.
Municipalities, regional authorities and the private sector should work together on practical measures such as rental guarantees, reliable tenant screening, insurance against non-payment and faster dispute resolution.
A protected and professionally managed long-term rental market would benefit both tenants and responsible owners.
We need to stop discussing landlords and workers as if helping one side must harm the other.
Good housing policy should reduce risk for the owner while increasing stability for the tenant.
Transport must be part of the calculation
Housing cannot be discussed separately from mobility.
Marbella does not have the same rail connectivity enjoyed by parts of Málaga, Torremolinos, Benalmádena or Fuengirola.
For many employees, living farther inland might be financially possible.
Reaching work reliably is not.
Traffic congestion, fuel costs, limited public transport and irregular working hours can turn a theoretically affordable home into an impractical option.
A hotel employee finishing after midnight cannot depend on a bus service that has already stopped running.
A nurse beginning an early shift cannot spend hours navigating seasonal traffic.
A construction worker should not have to choose between unaffordable coastal rent and an exhausting daily commute.
Workforce transport should therefore be considered infrastructure, not an afterthought.
Sustainable tourism requires sustainable communities
The Costa del Sol does not need to choose between tourism and local residents.
It needs a model in which both can prosper.
Tourism creates jobs, investment and international visibility.
Real estate creates wealth, employment and new communities.
But neither sector can succeed indefinitely if essential workers are excluded from the market.
Hotels cannot maintain five-star service without qualified staff.
Hospitals cannot operate safely without healthcare professionals.
Construction companies cannot deliver new homes without skilled tradespeople.
Restaurants cannot serve visitors without chefs, waiters and suppliers.
Schools cannot function without teachers.
The strength of the Costa del Sol is not only its climate, beaches, golf courses or luxury properties.
It is also the people who make life here possible.
This is about protecting growth, not preventing it
I am not calling for development to stop.
I am calling for development to be complete.
If we calculate tourist beds, we should calculate workforce accommodation.
If we approve projects that create hundreds of jobs, we should understand where those employees will live.
If housing nearby is impossible, we should provide credible mobility alternatives.
If the existing community must absorb the cost created by a private project, that cost should be recognised before approval — not years after opening.
The businesses already investing in employee accommodation and transport understand the problem.
They are not doing it as charity.
They are doing it because housing and mobility have become essential to recruitment, service quality and long-term commercial viability.
That principle should inform the future of the entire Costa del Sol.
We can continue attracting investment.
We can continue developing exceptional hotels, homes and services.
We can continue building one of Europe’s most desirable destinations.
But a world-class destination must also be a place where the people who operate it can build a life.
Otherwise, we are not creating sustainable prosperity.
We are creating a luxury economy with no foundation underneath it.
And eventually, that contradiction will affect everyone.
Andi Vee Founder, Real Marbella Estate Marbella, Costa del Sol
