"So far we are satisfied. The second half of the month promises to be better than the first, with the exception of the last week, which only fills up at the last minute. However, we have reason to be satisfied with the preparations made for this August, which is the peak" of the season, summarised Hélder Martins, president of the Algarve Hotels and Tourist Enterprises Association (AHETA).

The director of the largest hotel association in the Algarve acknowledged that the sector has increased prices by an average of 8 to 10%, which corresponds to what he considers to be the increase in products purchased to serve tourists.

“Is there more money in the hotel industry? There has been a slight increase in revenue”, stated Helder Martins, who does not see a sharp drop in the number of Portuguese people, who continue to be the main customers.

According to the director of the tourism sector, there may even be fewer Portuguese people in the Algarve, but “the good hotels, excellent hotels in the Algarve, have as their main customers largely the national customer, who can afford to pay the price that is offered to them”.

For Hélder Martins, the Algarve is following a path towards “repositioning to improve the product” of the tourist offer to the detriment of “massification”, which implies lower prices.

“Last year, a similar situation occurred. In July, the Portuguese dropped slightly and then in August, they remained the same. This year, the Portuguese also dropped in July, and we will see the result for August at the end”, he said.

Occupancy rate

According to monthly data from AHETA, the average occupancy rate per room in Algarve hotels was 83.6% in July, a value just 0.3 percentage points lower than that recorded in the same month in 2023.

The biggest drop was in tourists from the domestic market (minus 2.3 percentage points), which was offset by travellers from abroad, namely Swedes (+0.8 percentage points), Dutch (+0.4) and Germans (+0.3).

The president of AHETA also pointed out the existence, “in recent years, of some organised campaigns against the Algarve”, in reference to news about the lack of places on the beach for towels or lack of spaces for cars.

“This year, we started by saying that there is space for towels and cars, therefore, the Algarve is deserted, [which is] a lie. The following week, a news story came out saying that the Portuguese were not coming to the Algarve because the price of a stay starts at 600 euros, [which is also] a lie”, he stated.

“Conspiracy”

“I believe there is a conspiracy against the Algarve, and I don’t know who benefits from it” and “social media is excellent for spreading this news”, stated Hélder Martins, assuring that the Algarve “is surviving” and will “fight against this [the campaigns]”.

The representative in the Algarve of the Portuguese Hotel Association (AHP), João Soares, corroborated the idea that “there is a campaign, which has been running since the beginning of June”, promoting the existence of more affordable destinations or those with a greater offer.

“Businesspeople in the Algarve are not obsessed with persecution, but there has been some news that doesn’t make any sense,” said João Soares, adding that, as far as berlin balls are concerned, there are other regions of the country where they are more expensive, and that this is “speculative news.”

The businessman representing AHP in the Algarve, who is also the director of the Hotel D. José, in Quarteira, assured that he has “the same level of occupancy and similar numbers” as in 2023.

“There is a perception that people have that there are fewer people in the Algarve, but the numbers don’t indicate that. The hotel industry numbers are similar to last year’s numbers and there are even some hotel units that are growing. Not by double digits, but by single digits,” he said.