In June, the tourist accommodation sector should have registered 500,000 guests and 1.1 million overnight stays, which corresponds to falls of 81.7 percent and 85.1 percent, respectively, but below those recorded in May (from 94.2 percent and 95.3 percent), according to INE.
Overnight stays by residents “will have decreased by 59.8 percent (-85.9 percent in May) and those by non-residents will have decreased by 96.0 percent (-98.4 percent in the previous month)”, the entity said.
While the decrease in overnight stays from residents is still pronounced it is a far better result than the number of overnight stays from non-residents in Portugal, thus helping to boost the tourism industry at a time when the government is encouraging staycations to help bolster the local economy.
In June, almost half (45.2 percent) of tourist accommodation establishments were closed or there was no movement of guests.
“According to the results of an additional specific questionnaire that INE carried out during the months of June and July, 62.6 percent of the respondent tourist accommodation establishments (representing 78.6 percent of the supply capacity) indicated that Covid-19 motivated the cancellation of reservations scheduled for the months of June to October 2020, mainly from the national and Spanish markets”, they stress.
Most establishments that expected to be in operation between June and October expect to register “occupancy rates below 50 percent in each of the months”.
According to the INE, more than half (57 percent) of tourist establishments do not expect to change the prices charged compared to the previous year, while about a third (34.9 percent) admit to reducing prices, “being mostly located in AML and the Algarve (58.8 percent and 54.5 percent of establishments, respectively)”.
In view of the application of social distancing and hygiene and cleaning measures in the establishments, almost half (49.1 percent) of the establishments said that the supply capacity will be reduced, “mainly due to the increase in the time intervals between ‘check-out’ ‘and’ check-in ‘ of guests (55.9 percent of establishments) and the reduction in the number of rooms (48.6 percent)”.
In the month under review, the Alentejo “stood out by presenting a decrease in the number of overnight stays of 48.4 percent (-31.2 percent in the case of residents and -84.7 percent in the case of non-residents)”.
The totality of the main tourist-emitting markets “maintained significant decreases in June, exceeding 90 percent “.
The Autonomous Region of the Azores “was the one with the highest proportion of establishments with reservation cancellations (94.1 percent of establishments and 91.3 percent of the capacity offered), followed by the Algarve (79.2 percent and 89.6 percent, respectively), the Autonomous Region of Madeira (76.5 percent and 91.3 percent, in the same order) and the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon (73.8 percent and 84.6 percent, respectively)”, says INE.
“When asked about the main markets with reservation cancellations between June and October (each establishment can identify up to three markets), the national market was the most mentioned, having been identified by 49.3 percent of tourist accommodation establishments”.
The Spanish market was the second most mentioned (46.8 percent of establishments), followed by the British (37.5 percent), French (33.3 percent) and German (25.0 percent) markets.