It was all good news for the tourism sector in the Algarve last year, as the region registered more sleepovers, more guests, more revenue and profit and even more golf rounds than it had the previous year.
Starting off the list of positives, the region reached a record-high profit sum – €609 million – representing a 4.1% increase compared to the year before, the regional tourism board Turismo do Algarve has announced. No other area or region in the country did better.
It is no surprise then that the tourism board considered 2013 a “very positive year” and that the Algarve was the main touristic destination in Portugal, accounting for 35.5% of sleepovers in Portugal (14.8 million), ahead of Lisbon and Madeira, according to a document named “Destaque Actividade Turística” released by the National Statistics Institute (INE).
The total number of registered guests in tourism accommodation was over 3.1 million – a 3.6% increase compared to 2012, mostly due to the region’s ability to overcome the smaller fraction of Portuguese guests (-2.9%) by attracting more foreign guests (5.5%).
But the region also saw growth in other tourism-related sectors.
Faro Airport registered positive results as well, with nearly six million passengers in 2013, representing a 5.6% rise compared to the previous year, according to data from the ANA airport authority.
And golf showed extremely positive results as well as data from Algarve Golfe shows.
Golf rounds in the Algarve once again reached the one million mark last year, which has not occurred since 2009, the tourism board stressed.
All in all, the region registered a tendency for growth and development in virtually all relevant areas of the tourism sector.
President of the regional tourism board, Desidério Silva, said in January that he is confident the upward trend will continue and that 2014 will be even better.
