The Costa del Sol and how it became a Fabulous Holiday Destination

COSTA DEL SOL HOLIDAYS have been around for a long time. The area's popularity started in the 1960s with the advent of the package holiday. This was a time when most people had never left their home country for a holiday and the idea of getting on a plane was too much to resist. All this with cheap beer, sandy beaches and a place with over 320 days of sunshine each year: what could be better? When you add this to the opportunity to stay in a hotel and not some little boarding house in cold old Britain, you had hordes of people flocking to the Costa del Sol.

This package holiday extravaganza continued for some thirty years. These first time tourist really didn't know what they were missing when they confined all their activities to the coast, never venturing inland. No one wanted to hire a car: after all, who wanted to drive on the wrong side of the road, but things were going to change and change they did.

As time slipped by a few more adventitious types found their way inland only to find how incredibly cheap property prices were. They didn't seem cheap to the locals who had worked hard for the meagre living earned out of the land for generations. They decided to sell the old home and move to the more comfortable pueblos with their new found wealth. All this occurred when there were no building regulations and you could build what you wanted where you wanted. Just imagine building your dream home on a sunny hillside enveloped by total peace, tranquillity and a nature that provided some fantastic views. All this at a minuscule cost compared to properties back home.

Like most holiday home owners, they started to rent their place out when they were not using it to create extra income. There was already a British market ready, willing and able to rent places in the sun: all that was needed was a little advertisement and someone to look after their holiday home. Hence the rural tourism in Spain started.

There were some people out there that had tired of the beach life and sought some other place to spend their holidays. These inland rustic villas appeared to be the idyllic setting and were, as a result, rented out to the awaiting tourist that wanted to experience the true Spain everyone had heard about. The winning combination of a villa with a pool surrounded with nothing but peace and quiet except for a few goats was too much to resist. For some time the original home owners had this part of the business all to themselves until a few optimistic developers decided to move their operation into this market.

This is when the next stage of Costa del Sol's tourist market started to emerge with apartment blocks sprouting up all along the coast. Foreigners could get favourable interest rates and pensions could be paid into Spanish banks, making for an even better market to sell homes. At about the same time outsiders could qualify for a healthcare system that was deemed better than the one back home. The housing market was getting ready to explode.

When you are renting your COSTA DEL SOL HOLIDAYS properties stop and give thanks to those few brave souls that were forward thinking enough to start a housing revolution that would carry on for some time. As you travel inland along the coast you will be able to see the results of all their efforts. Some of it is good while other parts are not so good but that was all before the building controls we have today. Sadly we have to live with the past's mistakes.

About the Author

Porsche is an avid traveller throughout the holiday region of Spain. She loves writing about all of those special hideaways we all would love to find so keep reading about all of her travels and things to do in this lovely country. At present she is travelling and writing for Akilar.com and telling you just why you should book your dream Spain Holiday Rentals home from the Owners Direct