A yearly regional events programme designed to provide entertainment in the Algarve in all seasons and combat tourism seasonality has said it will be focussing on foreign residents and visiting friends.
The affirmation was made by the new head of the ‘365Algarve’ agenda committee, Anabela Afonso.
It comes after a study by the Algarve University (UAlg) revealed that most foreigners who attend events in the Algarve are on holiday visiting friends or family.
The change in strategy was one of the first decisions made by Anabela Afonso in her new role as head of the 365Algarve, and announced in an interview with Algarve University radio station RUA FM.
According to Ms. Afonso, UAlg’s support on the cultural agenda has been a “very useful tool”, and its study helped “fine tune the programme’s strategy, reducing the global number of initiatives financed and investing in anchor events.”
“The data we have is encouraging, when comparing the first edition to the second edition. An interim evaluation, covering the period up to December 2017, indicates that, in the events carried out in the current edition, 15 percent of tourists at the events were from outside Portugal. On the other hand, foreign residents represent 13 percent of the total”, she revealed.
“In a recent meeting with the company that promotes ‘365 Algarve’ on social networks, we pointed out that we were not reaching foreign residents, and that this was necessary. And from that moment, we soon noticed an evolution. This has increased our visibility and the click-through we get from abroad”, she explained.
That is, “we have a resident foreign community here that also boosts the number of visitors from abroad.”
“Obviously we want to grow further and the goal is to work towards this. But I think they are good results for a programme that is still very young”, she concluded.
