Tourism officials in the Algarve are celebrating yet another important mark

The region’s hotels welcomed around 445,000 guests in September, which translated into 1.9 million overnight stays. These numbers represent 3.9% and 1.3% year-on-year increases, respectively.

Revenue (+7.2%) and overnight stays by Portuguese holidaymakers (+7%) also increased, helping strengthen the Algarve’s status as the country’s main holiday destination.

Data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) also shows that the Algarve welcomed, overall, an impressive 624,000 holidaymakers in September, when taking into account all forms of tourist accommodation. In other words, there were over 2.5 million overnight stays thanks largely to the British (+3.1%), Portuguese (+7%), Irish (+7.7%), Spanish (+4.8%) and French (+1.1%).

While the number of overnight stays by German tourists took a significant dip (-12.2%) in September, Germany still remains the second largest tourist market in the Algarve.

INE also reveals that the average stay at Algarve hotels was just over four nights and that revenue reached the impressive mark of €164.2 million. 

“The Algarve accounted for 33.8% of overnight stays at Portuguese hotels, 1.1 million passengers walked through Faro Airport and demand from the British market increased in terms of guests (+7.6%), overnight stays (+3.1%) and passengers at Faro airport (+3.8%),” said João Fernandes, president of both the Algarve Tourism Association (ATA) and Tourism Board (RTA).

He added that September is “becoming one of the most popular high season months in the Algarve”. 

Another important figure was the 1.8% increase in the number of golf rounds played in the region, which in September topped 135,000.

Taking the first nine months of the year into account, the Algarve has welcomed 4.2 million guests (+8%), 17.6 million overnight stays (+2.5%) and over €1 billion in revenue (+7.5%).

Source: The Algarve Resident