In May, hotel units in the Algarve registered an occupancy rate of 64.8 percent, a value that is 7.4 percent below the one recorded in the same month of 2019, before the arrival of the pandemic.

The figures from AHETA – Associação dos Hotéis e Empreendimentos Turísticos do Algarve, also identified a drop in the number of guests from the German and British markets, two of the main outbound markets for the region.

According to AHETA, in May, the occupancy rate even “surpassed the average value for this month” and represents an increase of 275 percent compared to May 2021, although compared to 2019, which had been the best tourist year in terms of tourism, we continue to find “a decrease of -7.4 percent, compared to the same month of 2019”.

The bed occupancy rate was 52.5 percent, which indicates a decrease of 10.2 percent compared to the peak in 2019.

By areas of the Algarve, the biggest increases compared to the same month of 2019 were recorded in the areas of Portimão/Praia da Rocha (+2.7pp, +3.7%) and Lagos/Sagres (+1.7pp, +2.6 %), while the main declines occurred in Tavira and (-17.9pp, -26.9%) and Albufeira (-12.9pp, -16.2%).

The areas of Faro/Olhão, with 78.0%, and Portimão/Praia da Rocha, with 75.5%, were, according to AHETA, “the ones that registered the highest occupancy rates, while the lowest occurred in the area of Monte Gordo/VRSA, with 40.7%”.

By markets, AHETA reveals that “some markets registered increases”, such as the Irish market, which rose 17.8%; and the Dutch, which showed an increase of 10.9%; although the biggest rise was in the Belgian market, with an increase of 24.2%.

In the opposite direction were some of the main international markets that send tourists to the Algarve, such as the German and British, which presented, in May, decreases of 41.3% and 8.1%, respectively, in a trend that is also reflected in accumulated in the first five months of 2022.

“From January to May, Germany is the market with the biggest cumulative decline compared to 2019 (-1.9pp, -38.2%) followed by the United Kingdom (-1.7pp, -12.3%) and the Netherlands (-0.4pp, -9.8%)”, indicates AHETA.

Even so, in May, the largest share of overnight stays in Algarve hotels went to British tourists with 39.8%, followed by the Portuguese (13.1%), Irish (10.9%) and Dutch (7.0%). with the British also leading in terms of number of guests, with 32.0%, followed by the Portuguese (20.6%), Irish (8.6%) and French (6.6%).