Overnight stays in Portugal’s hotels rose by almost ten percent over January to June this year, to 25.3 million, mainly spent by non-residents.

The National Statistics Institute (INE) reported this week that revenue was also up to €1.4 billion.
“In the first half of 2017, overnight stays by residents increased by 4.3 percent, and those by non-residents increased 11.6% percent,” the INE’s report read.

During the month of June alone, the hotel industry registered 2.1 million guests and 5.9 million overnight stays, corresponding to increases of 8.5 percent and 8.0 percent, respectively (up 7. percent and 6.5 percent on May).

The domestic market fell in June, while external markets accelerated.

The average duration of stays in June was shorter than last year, but revenue continued to increase.
In the Algarve, Portugal’s most popular summer tourist destination, the average room occupancy rate last month, July 2017, was 85.9 percent, down slightly on July 2016.

However, figures from the region’s largest hotel association AHETA showed that overall, since January, “occupation is up 2.7 percent” on the total average of the first seven months of 2016.

The association stressed occupancy was “still above-average” for the month of July.

Geographically, the biggest growths in occupancy were registered in Lagos and Sagres, and Portimão and Praia da Rocha, which had the highest occupancy rate in the Algarve last month, being 92.8 percent full.

Albufeira – traditionally the Algarve’s busiest tourist hotspot – registered a slight growth of 0.3 percent.
The biggest drops were noted in Vilamoura, Quinta do Lago and Quarteira, and Faro and Olhão. 

According to AHETA, from the beginning of this year, the German market has led the way for growth in terms of tourists, followed by Ireland, and the UK market, which has fallen slightly, by 3.2 percent. 
Nonetheless, the majority of nights spent in the Algarve were enjoyed by Portuguese (26.6 percent), Britons (26.1 percent), Germans (9.5 percent) and the Irish (7.6 percent).

Article published by The Portugal News