January hotel room occupancy numbers
The room occupancy in the first month of 2013 has averaged at around 26.9 percent, a number that is very close to the one registered during the same time period in 2012 – these numbers are courtesy of the Algarve Association of hotel and tourist developments, or AHETA.
We have to note that these figures only take into account those establishments that are still open – as we’ve mentioned in earlier articles, some hotels have closed their doors during the winter season. With this in mind however, the numbers to show a slight 0.9 percent increase, however according to AHETA the total volume of business was the same as the one in January 2012.
The AHETA statement highlighted that Dutch visitors rose by 1.3 percent while Brits by 0.5 percent, however Germans fell by 1.1 percent with the Spanish falling by 1.3 percent.
The regions that saw increased rates of occupancy were Faro/Olhao and Vilamoura/Quarteira/Quita do Lago, their rates increased by 6.1 percent and 4.7 percent respectively.
On the other side of the coin, Portimao/Praia da Rocha was the regionin which occupancy rates fell the most, with a 9.9 percent drop. Whilst Monte Gordo/Vila Real de Santo Antonio saw the highest average occupancy rate with 60.1 percent, while Lagos/Sagres the lowest with 14.1 percent.
Some other interesting figures from the statement show that there was a 6.7 percent drop in occupancy rates for five star hotels and apart-hotels, which four and five star tourist developments saw an increase of 8.2 percent and the three star ones saw an increase of 5.6 percent.
When looked at the situation overall, the three star apart-hotels had the highest occupancy rates in the region, at 39 percent, but the three star development and tourist apartments had the lowest occupancy rates at 20.5 percent.
This doesn’t look like it will be the year in which the off-season tourism rebounds, as we’ve talked about it yesterday, the Algarve needs a more cohesive approach to becoming more competitive and relevant during the off-season.
