Last month’s room occupancy rate of 93.9 percent is, according to the Algarve’s largest hotel association AHETA, on a par with the same month of last year.
This year, August sales went up by 3.8 percent, although when compared to accumulated figures from the start of the year, occupation rates were up 2.2 percent, while month-on-month business grew 9.1 percent.
AHETA further revealed that the British market registered the biggest drop in tourists, being down 16.3 percent on last year, which the association believes is a direct consequence of the pound sterling weakening by 15 percent over the past 12 months.
The national market registered the biggest growth in output of visitors to the Algarve, reversing a downwards trend noted over the past year, followed by Germans.
Surges were also registered in the Polish, French, Swedish, Belgian, Danish and Italian source markets.
Geographically, the areas of Faro-Olhão and Carvoeiro-Armação de Pêra registered the biggest growths in visitors last month, while Albufeira, the region’s main holiday hotspot, saw a more subtle growth of just 1.7 percent, and the most noticeable drops were in the area of Vilamoura / Quarteira / Quinta do Lago.