Number of American tourists travelling to the Algarve is on the rise
The Algarve is welcoming more Americans but fewer Portuguese tourists this summer, according to regional hotels and tourism developments.
The ‘invasion’ of American holidaymakers, which has seen the number of tourists from the USA increase around 70% since 2020, is continuing this summer and could have been even more significant if United Airlines had stuck with its plan to launch a direct flight between New York and the Algarve.
“It’s a shame we did not get a direct flight to the United States, as was planned, because that would have brought around 20,000 more tourists,” the president of the regional hotelier association (AHETA), Hélder Martins, told Rádio Renascença (RR). “But people travel here using other routes, such as through Frankfurt, Dublin or Lisbon, and we continue to welcome many Americans. There are higher-class hotels whose main markets is already Americans“.
The Newark-Faro airlink will only launch in 2025 after United Airlines was forced to postpone the launch of all new routes to next year.
André Gomes, president of the Algarve tourism board (RTA), confirmed that the new route will launch in May 2025 as long as no other unexpected issues arise. “Sales were already ongoing at a good pace and with very good prices,” Gomes told RR.
Meanwhile, the decrease in Portuguese tourists in the Algarve is being attributed to many nationals preferring to travel to destinations abroad that they could not visit during the pandemic years. The tourism and hotel officials also guarantee that the increase in tourists from other markets has been compensating the national decrease.
In other words, they expect the tourism results for this summer in the Algarve to be very similar to those in 2023, considered one of the best ever, and possibly with an increase in tourism revenue.
michael.bruxo@portugalresident.com
