The likely increase in tourists in the Algarve this summer, compared to 2013, will be accompanied by a fall in discretionary spending of 10% in restaurants and shops, according to gloomy predictions from the head of the beach vendors group, the snappily titled Associação dos Industriais e Similares de Concessões da Orla Marítima do Algarve (Aiscoma).
Less than two months before the opening of the season in Albufeira the president of Aiscoma estimates that there will be more tourists in the Algarve, but that they will spend less.
Francisco Barbosa, who runs a restaurant in Praia do Castelo in Albufeira says that in his establishment he has seen customers ask for one soup for three people, and couples that share a cup of coffee.
"Normally it’s foreigners who do this, the Portuguese are too ashamed to go to a restaurant and order a sandwich or just a 'couvert,' usually if they have no money they do not go to a restaurant," he noted.
To Barbosa, the predicted increase of 8% to 10% in the number of tourists who will visit the Algarve this summer does not mean more profits for companies that survive on tourism, he reckons that people will walk around but have no money to spend.
Mr Happy also said that the drop in consumption by tourists has been from the "north to the south" of Portugal and added that the entire industry has been affected, from beach restaurants to establishments further inland.
Another problem that has affected his members is the mandatory (since 2008) posting of a lifeguard every 50 metres, where the beach is 100 metres or more.
According to the law, many business owners are forced to take on three lifeguards due to days off, making it difficult to recoup the cost from the rental of sunshades and sunbeds on the beach.
Since 2009, the summer season has been extended to five months between May and October, instead of the usual three months, in an effort to increase tourism.
Aiscoma Algarve has 230 members, most of whom are in the Albufeira area.
Barbosa’s depressing view, if unchecked, could spread to his members, many of whom may prefer someone with a spark of entrepreneurial spirit rather than a doom-monger.
Barbosa may yet explain the latest Bank of Portugal figures for January which saw tourism spending rise 10.6%.
