Spring Snippets, Beer… and Antonio Banderas
In the same week that Antonio Banderas was honoured with the “Biznaga de Oro” award at this year’s 20th Málaga Film Festival, a survey named him among the top three personalities that Andalucians would like to have a beer with.
Undertaken by Madison Market Research for the Spanish brewing industry, the survey listed fellow Málaga-born actor and comedian Dani Rovira in top spot, with actor-director Paco León second and Banderas third, although the latter (predictably) topped the ranking among big-screen movie stars.
Rafael Nadal retained top spot among sports stars, easily out-ranking former Spanish national football team captain and goalkeeper Iker Casillas. As for TV series, Game of Thrones fictional characters Jon Nieve and Tyrion Lannister were second and third, respectively, behind Paco León’s Luisma in the Spanish series “Alda”.
During festival week, 56-year-old Banderas also revealed he had suffered a heart attack in January, and said he would now be leading a more tranquil life, probably spending more time in his Málaga home (he has a penthouse in the city as well as a villa in Marbella).
Spain’s tourism ministry has initiated a campaign – #SpaininMYheart – to offset any potential ramifications of the Brexit/Gibraltar contretemps and remind Britons why the country is their favourite tourist destination. According to Turespaña, 17.8 million British tourists visited Spain in 2016 (a 12.4 per cent increase compared with 2015), and 40 per cent of Britons travelling outside the UK opt for a Spanish destination.
One of Marbella’s iconic establishments, Incosol, has reportedly been bought by Banco Sabadell hotel subsidiary HI Partners (which is associated with US investment company Starwood Capital Group) for €20 million. Once a favoured health refuge for a long (and private) list of international celebrities, Incosol has been closed since its previous owner, the Jale Group, went into receivership. The news follows a previous major announcement in March presenting a €300 million luxury hotel and residential project in a frontline beach location in the Real Zaragoza area east of Marbella city.
Away from the Coast, but still extremely relevant to the area, United Nations World Tourism Organisation secretary-general Taleb Rifai made some moving and timely observations about tourism during the opening ceremony of the recent ITB Berlin fair.
A regular visitor to the Costa del Sol since the 1970s, Rifai said, “We live the worst of times and the best of times. Times when we wake up every other day with the threat of terrorism at our doorstep and the glooming numbers of unemployment. Times of isolationism and ill-conceived actions like travel bans, which do not lead to increased security but just to growing tension. Despite all these complex and interlinked challenges, despite acts against the freedom of travel, the power of tourism continues to shine through the darkness.” He added that the declaration of 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations was “a clear recognition of the potential contribution of tourism to social progress, equality and prosperity and peace and that tourism must be at the forefront of the 2020 Agenda for Sustainable Development. “In a world that seems increasingly short of tolerance and generosity, we should cherish tourism as a precious pillar of peace amongst communities and nations.”
Holiday tourism, of course, often leads to residential tourism, and the Costa del Sol leads the way as a premier destination in southern Europe – with Marbella the glamorous flagship. Our featured property this week is a family villa overlooking the lake and La Concha mountain peak in Guadalmina Alta.
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