Four hiking festivals organised under the ‘Algarve Walking Season’ brand, created in 2017 and revived this year, aim to attract over 3,000 hikers to the region between March and December 2024.
The four events will take place in the following locations: Alcoutim, March 15-17; Ameixial, Loulé, April 26-28; Barão de São João, Lagos, November 1-3, and Monchique, November 29-December 1.
The ‘Algarve Walking Season, A Region for Walking All Year Round’ brand is managed by QRER – Cooperative for the Development of Low-Density Territories and was created to help promote three hiking festivals which were held at the same time in the region. But when European funding ran out and the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, the project was suspended.
With renewed hope in the venture, the Algarve Tourism Region (RTA) decided to “invest in this segment and this brand”, providing “new impetus” to the ‘Algarve Walking Season’ brand, which aims to position the Algarve as the country’s main hiking destination, said João Ministro, the man in charge of the project.
“There is no other region in the country that has a network and a brand that brings together several hiking festivals with these characteristics,” Ministro said on Monday at a press conference.
As he explained, these hiking festivals are held in “low-density territories”, helping “reinforce the attractiveness of the interior,” contributing to the “preservation of natural and cultural heritage,” and attracting residents, foreign residents and tourists.
Photo: MARIA SIMIRIS/OPEN MEDIA GROUP
In total, more than 200 activities are planned as part of the four festivals, including hikes, workshops, and many other events, with “more than 3,000 people” expected to participate.
The Caminheiros – Alcoutim Hiking Festival, which was first held in 2014, will take place from March 15 to 17, with a programme of 12 hikes inspired by the municipality’s history of smuggling activities and its experiences being a municipality located on the border with Spain.
The oldest of these events is the Ameixial Hiking Festival, in the municipality of Loulé, held for the first time in 2013 and scheduled to take place from April 26 to 28, with more than 30 hikes planned.
Further west in Lagos, the Walk & Art Fest in Barão de São João will bring together a “strong multicultural and artistic community” who live in and near the village, from November 1 to 3.
Last but not least, the ‘Algarve Walking Season’ will come to a close between November 29 and December 1 with the Monchique Hiking Festival, whose main theme will be water – an increasingly precious and scarce commodity in the Algarve.
The regional tourism board announced it will bring international specialised operators and journalists to these events and will promote the ‘Algarve Walking Season’ brand at nature tourism fairs in central and northern Europe.
The goal will also be to assess the real impact of these festivals in the region, focusing on a specific product (hiking) whose value “already exceeds €40 billion” throughout Europe, said RTA boss André Gomes, citing data from the European Hiking Association. For example, the organisers of the Ameixial Hiking Festival estimate an impact of €50,000 on the village’s local economy over the last 10 years.
“This is a segment that has a much greater potential for growth than its need for funding,” said André Gomes, adding that nature tourism was the sector that “contributed the most” to diversifying what the Algarve had to offer as a tourism destination in the last decade.
