The president of the Association of Hotels and Tourist Enterprises of the Algarve (AHETA), Hélder Martins, told Lusa, “the prospects for bookings, both for Easter and for the summer, are above those of 2019, and without resorting to price reductions”.

The president of AHETA dismissed the idea that the region “is full” of tourists at this time of year, stating that “the Algarve is far from full at Easter” and that it has a “large accommodation capacity” for the period from 15th to 17th of April that is still available.

“Occupancy is expected to be higher than 2019, but there is still a great capacity to welcome those who want to come here”, he stressed.

Markets

Asked about a greater prevalence of some of the main tourist markets in demand for the region in that period, Hélder Martins replied that the trend is similar, although recognising the importance of national and Spanish tourism for Algarve tourism at this time of year.

“All the markets are reacting well and you can't say that there is only one market that is going up and the others are going down. They are all reacting more or less in the same way”, he assured, stressing that the recovery of air connections to the region, after the restrictions caused by the pandemic, also contributes to a possible improvement compared to 2019.

The leader of the Algarve business association also ruled out, for the moment, any negative influence on the demand for the region motivated by the war in Ukraine.

“So far we don't feel that, but obviously it's a situation to be aware of, because it can get worse from one moment to the next. But right now we don't think there's any feeling of fear of traveling or anything like that,” he said.