In a statement, the business association of the islands of São Miguel and Santa Maria recalls the results of tourism activity released by the Regional Statistics Service of the Azores (SREA) for the month of April 2026, which point to an annual drop of 12.3% in overnight stays and 12.1% in the number of guests in tourist accommodation establishments in the Region.

These data, says the business association, chaired by Gualter Couto, confirm "a trend of weakening tourist demand that cannot be ignored".

The CCIPD board recalls that March also recorded an annual decrease in overnight stays of around 2.4%, despite the positive impact of the Easter period.

For the association, the behaviour of the domestic market, which remains the main source of visitors to the Azores, is particularly "worrying".

In April, overnight stays by residents of Portugal decreased by 20.4%, following a 9.3% drop in March, the business association also points out.

Ryanair departure impact

In the note, the CCIPD management emphasises that these results reinforce the concerns it has been raising since Ryanair's departure from the Azores was announced and reveal "a significant loss of competitiveness of the destination among domestic visitors, precisely the segment most sensitive to travel costs".

"Fewer operators means less available capacity, less competitive pressure and, inevitably, a greater propensity for increased travel prices," says the CCIPD, considering that the presence of the Ryanair airline played "an important regulatory role in the market", contributing to maintaining more competitive and accessible fares for residents and visitors.

The effects of this reality become even more evident, according to the association, when observing the sharp drop recorded in segments such as local accommodation (-22.1%) and tourism in rural areas, which fell by 23.9%.

The association also highlights the 2.8% decrease in REVPAR in April 2026, an indicator of the hotel industry that measures revenue per available room, indicating that "revenue per available room is already falling".

For the CCIPD, the now-known results constitute "another warning sign for the regional economy," given that tourism "is one of the main drivers of growth in the Azores and its sustainability depends on competitive, diversified air access capable of guaranteeing effective competition between operators."

Necessity of urgent measures

"It is therefore essential that urgent measures be adopted to strengthen the attractiveness of the destination, promote the recovery of lost air capacity and ensure competitive conditions that allow curbing the escalation of access costs to the Azores," it argues.

For the business association, the data should be seen as "a serious warning" and an opportunity to "correct course" before the economic impacts become "deeper and more difficult to reverse."

"The region cannot resign itself to the gradual loss of competitiveness nor accept that the reduction in air supply compromises the results achieved over the last few years," the CCIPD also warns.