Marbella has been added to the list of cities in Spain that can open businesses on Sunday and certain public holidays.
The current law restricts businesses across Spain from opening their doors during these national days of rest. However, there are exceptions for certain cities and Marbella has been added to this list due to the increasing demand from tourism. Marbella is one of the most important tourism cities in Spain receiving visitors from mainly Russia, the British Isles, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.
The government lowered the criteria for these cities. Before, cities needed to have a population of 200,000 and 1 million overnight stays per year. Now the limits are 100,000 residents and 600,000 overnight stays per year.
Ten new cities have been added to the list including San Sebastian, Santander, La Coruna, Oviedo, Gijón, Almeria and Jerez, Salamanca and León.
The list already includes 24 cities including Malaga, Barcelona, Valencia, Zaragoza, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Bilbao, Cordoba, Alicante, Granada and Cartagena (Murcia), Madrid, Seville, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and Palma de Mallorca.
