The Algarve reached, for the first time ever, the mark of three million overnight stays in July, according to data just released by the National Statistics Institute (INE).
These figures represent an increase of 0.7% over the same period of the previous year.
In July, foreigners boosted the regional tourism activity again, totalling 3.003 million throughout the month.
According to INE, the Algarve recorded a third of Portugal’s overnight stays in hotels in the first seven months of the year.
“Regarding the hotel segment, the Algarve accounted for 33.2% of Portugal’s overnight stays since the beginning of the year, in second place is the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, with a share of 25.5%”, details the institute.
At the regional level, this indicator grew by 2.7% to 11.6 million overnight stays in the Algarve hotel sector from January to July.
Analysing the nights in tourist accommodation establishments since the beginning of the year by municipality, five Algarve municipalities - Albufeira, Loulé, Portimão, Lagoa and Tavira - stand out amongst being in the top ten in the country.
In July, Faro Airport handled 1.173 million passengers, an increase of 2.2% over the previous year, with an emphasis on passengers originating in and destined for the United Kingdom (+ 4.1%) and Ireland (+ 6.1%). In the first seven months of 2019, passenger traffic at the airport grew 5.7% to 5.1 million.
Moreover, it is worth pointing out that the Algarve figures contrast with the results at a national level, as INE signalled a slowdown in the growth of tourist accommodation activity in July in other regions.
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