Occupancy to be “slightly above the 80% recorded last year”
Hoteliers in the Algarve are predicting a slight increase in their occupancy rates for the New Year’s Eve season compared to 2023, “but without much impact on tourism” overall, the president of the main regional hotel association said on Wednesday.
“We expect occupancy to be slightly above the 80% recorded last year in the units that will be open for this period,” the president of the Algarve Hotels and Tourist Developments Association (AHETA), Hélder Martins, told Lusa.
Unlike Christmas, which is a holiday that people prefer to spend at home and has less of an impact on the Algarve’s tourism industry, New Year’s Eve “attracts more people to the region,” although not enough to make up for the usually low occupancy rates at the hotels that remain open for the winter in the region.
“This is the lowest season of the year: there are months with accommodation occupancy rates of around 30%, increasing slightly for New Year’s Eve, but only by one or two nights, which is not significant,” he noted.
However, hoteliers are still expecting a “slight increase on last year”.
According to Martins, the projected increases are reflected mostly in units that offer “packages including accommodation and entertainment”, as well as in municipalities that offer street entertainment over the holiday.
“These are offers that attract people and have some impact on accommodation in the units that will be operating during this period,” said the AHETA president.
Martins said he didn’t yet have information on the booking rates for the festive season, adding that bookings usually pick up once resorts announce their entertainment programmes and that most last-minute bookings happen in the final week of the year.
“It’s a period that’s more sought after by the domestic market, but it comes down to a short stay and, in our experience, it doesn’t have much impact on tourism in the region,” he concluded.
The Algarve is home to some of Portugal’s most popular New Year’s celebrations, such as Albufeira, which has already announced its entertainment programme for this year and is promising the “biggest New Year’s party in Portugal.”
