Algarve hotel stays up 11.2% in May 2018

Hotel stays in Algarve hotels were up 11.2% in May 2018, according to the Portuguese statistical institute (INE).

The region continues to be responsible for the largest number of hotel stays in Portugal despite overseas visitor numbers falling 1.6% because of a slight fall-off in numbers from the UK and Holland.

In May Algarve hotels recorded 1.8 million stays, with variations of 4.3% and -0.1% respectively on the same month last year with four out of five stays registered from foreign visitors with the three largest markets being the UK, Germany and France.

In the first five months of the year, guests in hotel establishments increased 1% (1.3 million) on the same period in 2017.

In May stays reached 1.8 million,  a similar number of 2017. In this index, around nine of every 10 stays were from overseas visitors, with emphasis on the UK, Germany and Ireland. Stays from the Portuguese also increased (+11.2%), German (+4.2%), Ireland (+9.9%) and French (+24.1%) while hotel bookings fell from UK tourists (-11.2%) and Dutch (-12.1%).

From January to May the Algarve netted 5.6 million stays while total revenues to May 2018 exceeded €250 million, up 7.1%.  Room receipts also grew (+5.8%) reaching €65.2 million.