Algarve hoteliers expect to make 6% more by the end of the summer compared to 2024, by focusing on the upper middle class, admitting that there are Portuguese people who prefer to spend their holidays in other cheaper countries.
“The Algarve is not competing for low prices. It is competing for high average prices,” Hélder Martins, president of the Algarve Hotels and Tourist Resorts Association (AHETA), told Lusa news agency.
The director of the largest regional hotel association indicated that, in the first half of the year, turnover and occupancy in the association's member properties increased by around 3% compared to the previous year, and expects it to grow by between 5 and 6% by the end of the summer.
Reservations for this year's summer are at a higher level than those of 2024, at the same time, and this trend is the result of the Algarve's attractiveness, achieved with the requalification of hotel units, carried out annually, says Hélder Martins.
The president of AHETA says he does not know the number of Portuguese people who will go to the Algarve, nor whether there will be an increase or a decrease, and will only be able to have these numbers at the end of each month.
“It is certain that I cannot do business only with the Portuguese”, states Hélder Martins, adding that, “if the Portuguese do not have a grant to come to the Algarve and other countries are cheaper, it will be the law of competition that will work”.
This hotel manager admits that at the beginning of the year prices in the sector had increased by around 5% due to the increase in production costs, particularly wages.
On the other hand, the director of the Hotel D. José, in Quarteira, João Soares, thinks it is “premature” to say that there will be fewer Portuguese people spending their summer holidays in the Algarve this year.
“There has not been a decrease in Portuguese customers so far and I think that this will not happen when the balance is made at the end of August”, said João Soares, adding that, “even if this happens, it will not be a significant variation”.
In the hotel unit he runs, this manager indicates that business in the first half of this year was higher than in 2024, without major changes in the nationalities of tourists.
“There has been no decrease in the number of Portuguese people, and there is now a tendency for the Portuguese to travel abroad, which has nothing to do with prices”, says João Soares.
The hotel director confirms the increase in consumer prices “which do not reach double digits”, with production costs having increased even further, he says.
João Soares believes that it is easier to find employees to work in the hotel industry, but he complained about the lack of professional training for these workers.
“I have between seven and eight people working in the bar, instead of just five, due to their low qualifications,” he said.
Source https://www.algarveprimeiro.com/ - Photo courtesy of Depositphotos.com
