Beautiful sunshine welcomes “very excited” Brits to Algarve

Thousands of Brits were greeted by beautiful sunshine and a veritable media frenzy upon their arrival today at Faro Airport, which started welcoming its first flights from the UK following the Portuguese government’s decision to open up to “non-essential travel”. May 17 essentially kick-started the tourism season in the Algarve, and Portugal.

Dozens of reporters from national and regional newspapers as well as television channels awaited the Brits’ arrival at the airport this morning.

A team from the Algarve’s tourism board (RTA), led by its president João Fernandes, were also on hand to give a warm welcome to the many holidaymakers.

“Very happy”, “very excited” and “amazing” were just some of the words repeated by the arriving Brits who had no qualms about admitting how anxious they were to enjoy some time off in the Algarve, its sunshine and warm weather.

One British couple told TVI that they own a house in the Algarve and felt like they were finally “coming home”.

Others explained how they “needed to get away” and are now overjoyed to enjoy some time in the Algarve.

Another British traveller also praised the swiftness of Faro Airport’s arrival procedures, adding that it took him less than 30 minutes between his plane touching down on the tarmac and him leaving the airport.

The feeling amongst travellers was the same: they could not wait to finally enjoy some quality time in the Algarve after another lockdown confined them to their homes.

The weather will be perfect for holidaymakers to make the most of the Algarve experience, with forecasts pointing to temperatures over 30ºC throughout the week and mostly sunny skies.

See the Algarve Resident’s full report about the British tourist ‘invasion’ in this week’s paper edition, out on Thursday, May 20.

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Photos: MARIA SIMIRIS/OPEN MEDIA GROUP