Algarve hotels with entertainment programs should be full at the end of the year, estimate hoteliers in the region, who calculate that the average occupancy rate in December will be between 40 and 50 percent.

“We feel that all the hotels with year-end programs and entertainment will be full, but the units that only have occupancy I doubt very much that they will be able to fill up”, the president of the Association of Hotels and Tourist Enterprises of the Algarve (AHETA), Helder Martins told Lusa.

According to the largest hotel association in the south of the country, “the expectation is that, with the holidays [from 01 to 08 December], Christmas, and the end of the year, the Algarve sector can grow to an occupancy rate [average in December] which can go up to 40 or 50 percent”.

In December 2019, the year before the Covid-19 pandemic, which serves as a reference year for the tourism sector, the occupancy rate was 32 percent, counting only the universe of hotels that were open, said Hélder Martins.

Many hotels in the south of the country close during the winter months. “Right now we are 10% above 2019 bookings and prices have also increased by that amount, around 10%”, quantified Hélder Martins, who received the responses to a survey he made to AHETA members in recent days.

Last minute bookings

The leader of the hotel association warns, however, that there will be many last-minute bookings, between Christmas and the end of the year, which will be influenced by the weather forecast for the last days of 2022. Hoteliers are now “all waiting ” for “last minute” bookings, as of December 15, he underlined, stating that there is an “encouraging perspective” for the end of the year, with the national market, once again, being responsible for most of the guests.

For his part, the president of Turismo do Algarve, João Fernandes, said that the sector in the region is “at very interesting levels” for New Year’s Eve and that, from the contacts he has made with hoteliers in the region, an increase is in turnover is expected when compared to 2019.

Good weather

Fernandes confessed to being “surprised” by “three novelties” at the end of the year: an increase in reservations in the national market, an increase in reservations made directly with hotels, and, also, reservations made earlier than usual. “Weather forecasts from December 15th are for good temperatures and mild weather”, which will also help with last-minute bookings”, he added.

João Fernandes stated that the sector “is experiencing an increase in initiatives by companies and groups of friends and family who organise Christmas dinners and some parties, especially on the part of the national market”.