Until last year, tourism coming from Germany had been on the decline, but recent data shows that there has been a six per cent increase, with a total of 1.8 million Germans visiting the Algarve in 2005.
The Associação de Turismo do Algarve (ATA) has played an important role in this market increase, following an aggressive and expensive advertising campaign, which lasted over a period of three years. More than two million euros has been spent on promoting the Algarve, using the press, radio and the internet. Duarte Paldinha, director of ATA, is expecting another rise of four per cent in tourism from Germany.
Around 1,200 travel agents, from all over Europe, attended a tourism conference in the Algarve recently, and commented on a rise of 18 per cent in sales to the region. There are many factors which have contributed to this, including strong economies in some European countries, as well as a climate of uncertainty in travelling to other parts of Europe, unlike Portugal which is regarded as a safe country.
