Without wading too deeply into the matter of uncertainty surrounding Brexit, the Secretary of State for Tourism said this week that “the concern is to maintain the British market.”
“It was the main market in terms of overnight stays and number of guests in 2016. This year it continues to top the various indicators: overnight stays, guests and revenues”, Minister, Ana Mendes Godinho told Lusa News Agency.
She made the comments during a visit to the annual World Travel Market in London, one of the main international tourism fairs, where she met with representatives of airlines and tour operators to plan the activity and actions to be developed in 2018.
Statistics for the period from January to August 2017 showed a 13.6 percent increase in the amount spent by British tourists, while the number of guests increased by 4.4 percent and overnight stays by 3.4 percent on the same period in 2016.
“Revenue growth has accelerated; British tourists are spending more, which is a good sign, despite the uncertainty surrounding Brexit. We are not yet feeling the effects of Brexit”, she said.
The Secretary of State hopes that the annual conventions of three travel operators, (ABTA, Thomas Cook and AITO - Association of Independent Tourism Agencies of the United Kingdom) in Portugal will have a positive effect, as happened with the German market.
Last year, the national tourism board Turismo de Portugal managed to attract the convention of promoters of the German branch of Thomas Cook, which brought around 150 journalists to visit the country with them, which was reflected in the demand of German tourists of the Algarve.
During the first eight months of this year, German tourists spent 16.2 percent more than in the same period of 2016.
“Enhancing value is a top priority,” said Ana Mendes Godinho, who revealed 150 British journalists visited the country during the first half of this year, “and that will have an impact.”
The result was 2,500 articles in British publications about Portugal, especially from lesser known regions or less explored areas of the Algarve, which have been promoted during these visits.
“We are not interested in showing what is already known, we have focused a lot on nature tourism, active tourism, cultural tourism, heritage, gastronomy and wines, as well as golf, as an ‘off season’ product”, the State Secretary stressed.
In related news, last month’s hotel occupancy rates in the Algarve were the best results for the month of October for 18 years.
The average room occupancy rate for last month was 75 percent, 3.1 percent higher than October 2016 and the highest rate since 1999.
The highest contributor to this growth was the German market, which was up 4.9 percent on last October, while the British market registered the biggest drop in visitors.