The Algarve’s hotels are less crowded with British holidaymakers this summer due to the fall of the value of sterling against the euro.
This 15% drop in the pound’s value, after a slim majority of the UK’s voters decided that ‘enough was enough’ and to leave the European Union, has been noticed in the Algarve as in July alone, hotels registered 56,000 fewer British tourists than a year earlier.
A report in Diário de Notícias claims that hoteliers already are worried about the effect of 'Brexit' on their businesses but have been cheered by a rise in German tourists who have taken up much of the slack.
"The British market is not just any market, it is our main supplier," said Elidérico Viegas, the president of the Algarve’s hotels association, AHETA, while calling for an organised strategy to prevent tourism in the Algarve losing out due to Brexit.
The numbers are still provisional, but AHETA's survey of its hoteliers shows that 270,000 Brits were staying in the Algarve in July, down 17.3% from a year earlier when about 326,000 holidaymakers from the UK chose the Algarve.
"We feel that the number of British people started to fall in May and we need to seek growth from other markets to compensate for this reduction," Elidérico Viegas warned.
Overall, fewer Britons are taking overseas holidays, down 4.6% in May, year on year. This trend is expected to worsen as the pound declines.
In the first seven months of the year, the number of British in the Algarve also is below that of a year ago, with a drop in hotel occupancy of 3.1%. The most affected regions are Vilamoura, Quarteira and Quinta do Lago with four and five star hotels the most affected.
The association believes that private businesses should be spending money on promotion in growth markets, noting that the biggest increases in tourism are from Germans, Poles, Swiss, Italians, Swedes, Canadians and Belgians.
Comments
The EU presidents are elected by our MEP's that we have voted for in our local elections. So when they vote, in the European elections to elect an new president they are voting on your behalf and my behalf, as we have given them the mandate to do so.
Hello Charly. I am not an expert and really don't know, but, if a gun were held to my head & I was forced to make a prediction, for what it is worth, I would say this -
I said after the referendum, I thought that somehow, the UK exit would get blocked at some stage & there are forces at work here, Uk politicians from all sides and many in the business community, that would love to see that happen.
As in many UK elections, a lot of 'younger' people failed to turn out for the referendum vote in June 2016, the majority of whom would appear to be Remainers, & who now bitterly regret their intransigence. If there was another referendum today, I believe for sure, the younger generation would turn out to vote en masse & the original result would be comprehensively reversed.
Uk politics is in complete disarray at the moment, & it is anybody's guess what the political landscape will be in 12 months time here, let alone our relationship with Europe. Take Theresa May out of the equation for example & anything could happen.
It's an almighty mess to be honest - very pleased to get away to Portugal for a few months each year & bury my head in the sand!
Watch this space ......
Thank you very much for making it clear and understandable. What's your guess ? new referendum ? drama for the UK ? drama for EU ? drama for everybody ?
Charly, the Brits did not follow ex Prime Minister Cameron. To be fair to him, he campaigned against Brexit and was a Remainer. He simply misjudged the strength of feeling of the British electorate and to that extent it became a disaster for him personally & he fell on his sword. No one to blame but himself of course - he called the referendum only because he was convinced the Remainers would win & he could then close down the discussion in his own party. He was wrong!
Johnson - Mmmm? - see Farage below.
Farage - to be fair, like him or loathe him, a man of great conviction.
Whether Brexit is a long term disaster for the Uk population as a whole remains to be seen but I do fear the worst.
For starters, I personally have no confidence in the UK's negotiating team, especially my Uk local MP Dr Liam Fox. Some might say Dr Fox is an expense fiddling jumped up Prima Donna - a man who has never held down a 'proper' job in his life - but I couldn't possibly comment.
'Interesting times' ............
Brittons followed like "sheep in the flock " the highly untrustable british politician trio Cameron - Johnson -
Ferage ????
Today it becomes more and more clear what damage they poored over England....and this is only the beginning.
"The association believes that private businesses should be spending money on promotion in growth markets, noting that the biggest increases in tourism are from Germans, Poles, Swiss, Italians, Swedes, Canadians and Belgians"
and I wonder if theses groups will make up the shortfall of UK folk coming...every-time I go to faro. the airport arrivals board says uk uk uk uk france uk uk uk uk germany uk uk uk sweden uk uk and so on