Algarve hotels with lowest ever occupancy rates in December
The Association of Hotels and Tourist Developments of the Algarve (AHETA) said the region's hotel industry recorded an average occupancy rate per room of 14.5% in December.
The Algarve’s hotel industry recorded an average occupancy rate per room of 14.5% in December, the lowest figure ever, the Association of Hotels and Tourist Developments of the Algarve (AHETA) said on Wednesday.
The president of AHETA, Elidérico Viegas, told Lusa that 2020 was the worst year ever for Algarve tourism, with the drop taking place in all the tourist issuing markets.
“There is no memory of such a bad year, where external demand fell by 75% overall and turnover fell by €900 million, due to the effect of the pandemic that began to affect the tourism sector as of March 2020,” he said.
According to the data provided by the association, in the summary of the monthly evolution of activity in the sector, the approximately 80 accommodation units that remained open in December in the region registered a drop of 60.7% compared to the same period in 2019.
According to AHETA, the markets that contributed most to the decline were the Dutch with 83.3% fewer tourists, followed by the British (-79.6%), the German (-58.4%) and the domestic market (-37%).
In December, the volume of sales followed the decline in occupation, falling 62.3% compared to the same month of the previous year.
Bed occupancy registered an average decline of 56.8% since January 2020 and the volume of sales a decline of 58.5% compared with the same period in 2019.
According to the association’s data, in accumulated terms during 2020, there were 15.3 million fewer overnight stays in the more than 400 officially classified accommodation units in the Algarve, with turnover falling by more than €800 million.
In 2020, external demand fell by 75.1%, which represents 14.2 million fewer overnight stays and 3.2 million fewer guests, while internal demand fell by 21.2% (1.1 million fewer overnight stays and 280,000 fewer guests).
In the Algarve, most accommodation units closed down in March, with 85% of hotels reopening at the beginning of July and only 20% remaining open in December due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
