The study assessed 140 worldwide economies and took into consideration the competitiveness of these countries in regards to travel and tourism under the chosen theme of ‘Reducing barrier to economic growth and job creation’.

The report is meant to explore the potential and influence that the travel and tourism industries in general have in regards to a country’s economy and also takes into consideration the creation of jobs, which is essential for the proper development of any country.

So on this list of 140 countries, Portugal placed seventh, behind a couple of unexpected places such as Senegal – sixth – and Macedonia – fourth. The top three friendliest places are Iceland, New Zealand and Morocco.

The President of the Algarve Tourism Board, Desiderio Silva, stated that this favorable positioning of the entire country is thanks to the tourism industry’s approach to its visitors’ needs and requests. The Portuguese people being hospitable in general, but when helped by high quality products in all facets of tourism, coupled with the natural beauty, warm climate and unique gastronomy and culture of the country, it can only boost the way in which they’re perceived by foreigners.

We would like to add that all of the characteristics that we mentioned earlier are available in spades in the Algarve, which can be seen as a microcosm of everything that is great tourism-wise, about the country.

The study has also taken a series of other factors into account, such as the overall tourism infrastructure, economic, legal, environmental and cultural factors, as well as the tourism labor market.

Overall, the various indicators place Portugal in 20^th place when the other placements are taken into account.

According to AHETA, the region’s tourism potential and the air transport business should be seen as two sides of the same coin and as such they should not only be viewed together but also walk hand-in-hand. However, in recent years the two sides of the coin have been going their separate ways and this has to be brought to a point of balance as soon as possible so as to better support the Algarve economy.

We have to mention that some measures have been taken which are meant to attract tourists to the Algarve with air companies such as Ryanair and EasyJet offering low-cost flights to Faro Airport, it has become apparent that one has to maximize the hotel and resort occupation throughout the entire year in order to keep the local economies from dipping too much during the off-season.

It is quite clear – at least to the AHETA members – that the Algarve needs to regain its level of competitiveness and profitability from a few years ago, and the focus on air flight accessibility is vital to reach this goal.

It is apparent that the Faro Airport needs to be connected to several more airport hubs in Europe, and this fundamental step must be made in order to develop and raise the profits in business tourism, golf tourism and obviously all the other related industries and activities that find it hard to keep running during the low and medium seasons. In the past couple of years, many Algarve businesses – especially hotels – have been closing their doors during the winter months due to a lack of tourists.