Visitor numbers to the Nerja Caves during the first three months of this year are up by 14.37% compared to the same period last year, with 70,579 people paying a visit to the town’s main tourist attraction. Part of the reason for the increase is thought to be the fact that Easter was early this year.
The Nerja Caves Foundation hopes to attract between 400,000 and 450,000 visitors during 2008 and has embarked upon an extensive advertising campaign to meet this objective. The number of visitors to the caves had been in decline since 2001 but has stabilised in the past couple of years.
For the Nerja Caves Foundation there is always a dilemma to be considered. On the one hand, attracting large numbers of visitors brings in the necessary oodles of cash to maintain the facility and fund new projects, but on the other, too many visitors could cause, or contribute to, deterioration of the caves.