June’s tourism figures show the best year since well before recession, austerity and unemployment ravaged the tourism sector and left many businesses bankrupt, many hotels mothballed and the sector indebted and close to despair.
According to data released today by the Association of Hotels and Resorts in the Algarve (AHETA), the occupancy rate for the region’s registered businesses last month was 81.8%: the June 2001 figure was a shade higher at 82.1%, cause for celebration as the Algarve not only has proved itself a safe destination, it again has become hugely popular.
The hotel room occupancy rate was up 5.2% on June last year but the all important turnover, the amount of money taken, was up a significant 10.1%.
The British (+ 4.2%), Germans (+1.7%), and the French (+1.1%) were the main contributors to a happy June across the region’s tourism businesses.
By area, the main increase was in Tavira (+16.9%) and Lagos/Sagres (+7.8%).
The tourism power-house of Albufeira was up 5.5% for the number of tourists enjoying the area's hotels, bars and beaches.
A look at the average cost of a hotel room shows even better news at €167 per night across the Algarve, up 42% in a month and, more importantly, up 9.3% compared to June 2015, according to the Trivago Hotel Price Index.
The national trend was for Portuguese hotel prices to rise 9.26% since last June with an average price per room of €118.
Nationally, Lagos led the field with its hotels room rates going up just over 30%, Albufeira up 22% and Oporto up 20%.
Albufeira, in the space of a month, recorded the average price per room rising from €117 to €170 per night in June.
The trend in the important grey market for accommodation is likely to have followed the overall rise in hotel bookings and price rises.
This is good for the regional economy with guests eating out and shopping but not so good for the tax department which has failed to address those operating under the regulatory radar and appears indifferent to its loss of tax income.
