A much relieved Algarve tourist board commented on figures released today showing record numbers of tourists had chosen the Algarve for their holidays this year, with the Spanish leading the charge.
Today’s data released by the National Statistics Institute was welcomed by the tourist board’s president Desidério Silva who said the region had achieved 'strengthened positive results' so far in 2014, with 15.5 million overnight stays for the year so far, i.e. until the end of October.
By comparison, the total number of overnight stays for the whole of 2013 was 14.7 million.
This end of October figure is 11% higher than a year earlier and Silva announced with delight that this is all well beyond the most optimistic predictions and that it all proves that the Algarve "remains the engine of tourism in Portugal."
Silva, whose budget has been cut for next year, considered that the sector will have a 2104 "remarkable at all levels, whether in overnight stays, in number of guests and revenue or both."
In terms of real money the total tourism income in the Algarve has been €665 million to the end of Octber, beating the figure for the whole of 2013 which was €610 million.
The increase was bolstered by a sterling performance by the Spanish who, despite professed confusion over the Algarve’s bizarre motorway tolling system, seem to have made it to the region’s beaches and hotels in large numbers, up 26% on 2013.
Behind the Spaniards were the Brits, up 9% whose domestic economy has been growing rapidly, bringing back the reality of family holidays for many who have spent the recession years tightening their belts and perfecting the art of the 'staycation.'
Then came the Germans, up 5.5%, and made as welcome as ever.
All in all the region’s hotels have been doing well in terms of numbers but will always complain that tourists are not spending as much as in the pre-recession years.
