The Algarve’s hotels were full this August, despite tales of doom and gloom that the Brits were staying away due to Brexit and, more importantly, the exchange rate between the euro and the pound.
The Algarve’s hotels’ association said that August 2017 showed a close to bursting 93.9% occupancy rate, the same as last year when the resurgence of tourism started to give the country the economic boost required to start lifting it out of economic gloom and despair.
The number of British tourists visiting the Algarve's hotels indeed has declined, by a significant 16.3%. The association puts this down to the 15% devaluation of the pound in the last year.
Visitors from within Portugal filled much of the gap with a 10% rise, bucking last year’s trend. The figure for the Germans was up 4.6%.
By geographical area, the highest increases in hotel occupancy occurred in the Faro-Olhão area, up 4.1% and in the Carvoeiro - Armação de Pêra area, up 2.3%.
The largest drop was in Vilamoura-Quarteira-Quinta do Lago which showed a 3.1% decrease, while Albufeira, the main tourist area of the Algarve, registered a rise of 1.7%.
In cumulative terms, since the beginning of the year, the occupation rate has increased by 2.2% and the all important turnover figure has grown by 9.1%.
