We spent time in Granada, Cordoba, Seville and the lovely old port of Cadiz before heading back to Malaga through the region’s rolling hills via Ronda, where we overnighted.

In Granada we visited the exquisite Alhambra Palace. In Cordoba, the Great Mosque and Mezquita took our breath away. Seville treated us to the ornate Alcazar castle complex and an impressive Gothic cathedral.

Each was well worth a little queuing for and the €9–21 asked of each of us.

Ronda is perhaps most famous for the Puente Nuevo stone bridge that spans the deep gorge separating the 15th-century “new” town from the old town, dating from Moorish times.

Also to be found in Ronda is the legendary Plaza de Toros bullring, where one of the most revered bullfighters of all time, Pedro Romero, “performed” through the late 18th century.

While we are far from fans of bullfighting, the history of the Plaza and notoriety of Pedro tempted us to visit. However, the request of €7 to enter was met by a firm Brummie “No way!” from Mrs D.

Instead, we made do with pictures on the wall of the entrance hall and a video that was playing to get a feel for the interior of the bullring.

Interestingly, during the time we were there, quite a few people made exactly the same decision not to enter. Could it be that the Plaza de Toros in Ronda has its pricing wrong?

I calmed Mrs D with a cold dry sherry and we pondered what we would have been happy to pay for entry. She settled on €3 each. On that basis, the Plaza would need to raise visitor numbers by roughly two and a half times to be better off.

Should they drop their prices? Judging by the number of people I saw walk away compared with those that paid to enter, probably.

Getting pricing right is of course a key business judgement. Undervalue your product and you may achieve lots of sales but little profit. Overprice and your revenue could fall short of the numbers required to cover costs. Pricing is a delicate art that in the travel industry can easily transform a good year into a bad one.

This year, sales through January peaks and February were strong, with good margins generally reported.

Heading towards summer lates in the short-haul markets, Spain is well sold again, so prices will remain high. Greece appears healthier than last year, so expect the price point to hold up better. The question for Turkey will again be how low prices will need to go before punters bite.

Let’s hope we all price smarter than Ronda’s bullring this summer – and make some money.

Richard Dixon is director of Holidaysplease