Every visitor to the Costa del Sol, every person who has taken a holiday in Marbella - one thing is for sure, they will all have heard of Puerto Banus, and most will have paid it a visit.

Puerto Banus is the Spanish version of Monte Carlo, it´s where all the rich and beautiful people hang out. It´s the jet-set marina of the southern Mediterranean. It´s full of multi-million dollar yachts, designer boutiques and plastic faces. It´s beautiful yet vulgar, picturesque yet pretentious, a real melting pot of people.
Normally, Puerto Banus has a buzz to it – it has a life, an edge, full of partygoers keeping the discos dancing and the sleaze bars swinging.

However during the last month or so, the place has become a ghost town.

The designer stores are complaining that they are losing business, the bar-owners aren´t even breaking even, and the place generally feels a little lost, with people trying to go about their business as usual……but without any customers.

I guess the main reason for this is the recession – people are reining in their spending, preferring to stay at home rather than treat themselves to an extravagant night out in the port – let´s not forget that a pint of beer can cost in the region of 8 euros in many of the bars – crikey, that´s virtually 8 quid in today´s money!

Also, I think that there are generally fewer people on the Costa del Sol this year than previous years – as I mentioned in a previous thread, many expats who thrived in the Costa del Sol property boom years have been forced to pack up and leave, happy to spend their sales commissions in the brassy bars while the going was good, but with no savings put aside to tide them over during the inevitable downturn that followed.

Coupled with this, there are probably fewer tourists in town as well. With the value of sterling on the floor against the euro, even many holidaymakers are thinking twice before heading to the Costa del Sol.