Hélder Martins, president of AHETA, believes “lies” are being told about the Algarve
The president of the Algarve hotelier association (AHETA) has denounced what he believes is a “campaign against the Algarve” in recent years following a series of negative stories about the region which gained traction on social media.
Every summer, most of the region’s most popular beaches (particularly smaller-sized beaches) become so crowded that finding somewhere to park nearby or lay a towel on the sand can be a challenge. To counteract this, hoteliers put out the message this year that the Algarve always has enough spaces for everyone.
“This year, we started by saying that there are places for towels and cars,” AHETA president Hélder Martins told Lusa news agency, explaining that some interpreted this to mean that “the Algarve is deserted, (which is) a lie. The following week, a news article said that the Portuguese aren’t coming to the Algarve because (the price of their) stay starts at €600, (which is also) a lie”.
Martins also alluded to “news reports” that the traditional ‘bolas de berlim’, typically sold on the Algarve’s beaches, were the most expensive in the country.
“I think there’s a plot against the Algarve,” he said, admitting however that he does not know who it would benefit or interest. The hotelier boss insisted, however, that “social networks are excellent for amplifying this kind of news”, guaranteeing that Algarve “survives” and is “fighting against” this alleged campaign.
Meanwhile, the Algarve representative of the Portuguese Hotel Association (AHP), João Soares, agrees that “there is a campaign, which has been going on since the beginning of June”, propagating the existence of more economical destinations or those with a greater offer.
“Algarve businessmen don’t have a persecution mania, but in fact, there have been news stories that doesn’t make any sense,” said João Soares, adding that the article on ‘bolas’ de berlim’ did not take into account that these doughnuts are actually more expensive in other parts of the country.
Soares also denied the perception that there are fewer tourists in the Algarve this August, stating that the Hotel D. José in Quarteira, which he manages, has “the same level of occupancy and similar figures” as in 2023.
“There’s a perception that fewer people are in the Algarve, but the figures don’t indicate that. The hotel numbers are similar to last year’s figures and even some hotel units are growing. Not by double digits, but by single digits,” he said.
Hélder Martins also says the same, telling Lusa that there has been an increase in revenue and overnight stays in the second fortnight although the number of tourists is expected to be very similar to last year.
“So far we’re satisfied. The second fortnight promises to be better than the first, with the exception of the last week, which only fills up at the last minute. But we have reason to be satisfied with the preparations made for this August, which is the peak of the season,” Martins told Lusa.
The head of the Algarve’s largest hotel association acknowledged that the sector has increased prices by an average of 8% to 10%, which corresponds to what he considers to be increases in the products bought to serve tourists.
“Is there more money in hotels? You can see a slight increase in revenue,” said Helder Martins, who hasn’t seen the rumoured “sharp drop in Portuguese visitors”, who continue to be the region’s main clients.
According to the leader of the tourism sector, there may even be fewer Portuguese in the Algarve, but “the good units, the excellent hotel units in the Algarve, largely have the national customer as their first customer, who can afford to pay the price that is being offered”.
For Hélder Martins, the Algarve is following a path of “repositioning to improve the product” of the tourist offer to the detriment of “massification”, which implies lower prices.
“An identical situation happened last year. In July, the Portuguese went down slightly, and then they stayed the same in August. This year, the Portuguese also went down in July, and we’ll see the result for August at the end,” he said.
According to AHETA’s monthly data, the average occupancy rate per room in the Algarve’s hotels was 83.6% in July, just 0.3 percentage points lower than in the same month in 2023.
The most significant drop was from tourists from the domestic market (down 2.3 percentage points), which was offset by travellers from abroad, namely Swedes (+0.8 percentage points), Dutch (+0.4pp) and Germans (+0.3pp).
