New contracts have been signed by Turismo de Portugal in a bid to see more tourist all-year-round and they expect that this will result in an extra 20,000 tourists touching down at the Faro Airport this year.

All of these new flight towards faro will be originating from four markets that are now considered a priority by the Turismo de Portugal because they have a great potential o generating more tourists in the short-term, namely Germany, Scandinavia, Ireland and Poland. This has come at the cost of 400,000 euros which the government has invested into increasing the number of air flight routes to Faro Airport.

According to the Secretary of State for Tourism, the Algarve has to focus on receiving more winter tourists by cultivating and growing ties with airline companies and tour operators, rather than trying to attract new visitors by organizing events like concerts or parties. A representative from Turismo de Portugal has also added that this is the first time that a plan of ‘these dimensions’ has been put into practice.

Now for some Algarve related tourism numbers in order to put some things into perspective: the region sees 14.3 million annual overnight stays, with 10.9 million of these being booked by foreign visitors. In 2012, almost a half – 47% – of overnight stays took place over the summer season.

With those numbers in mind, we’ve been talking quite a bit lately about the fact that overall business is down, and has been down for the past couple of years, however the government has been taking steps to increase the number of tourists.

In 2013, during the first three months of the year for instance, the number of foreign tourists visiting the region increased by 14.5%, and that’s a pretty decent number.

We’ll just have to wait and see if and which result this new approach will have on the future of the region’s tourism.

Most likely the first thing that you’ll notice about this village when you approach it from the East on the N120 will be the long high street which continues over the bridge to the other half of the town.

The village is divided into two by the river, and interestingly enough it didn’t develop this way naturally. It was in fact the idea of a Bishop in the mid-18^th century to move the town across the river in order to stop the malaria that had caused many deaths. However not everyone could afford to move their home and belongings, and as such they stayed in the old part of town.

On the left hand of the bridge you’ll find a small undercover market where you can get fresh fish as well as other produce – as with most other open markets in the Algarve it is only open till about 1PM.

The tourist office might confuse you a bit, it looks like a shop and it is located in the high street, but it will supply you with a free map of the town as well as some literature about the castle.

Going up towards the castle is very worth-while, considering that it offers some great views of the new town, as well as a small museum. Those who love hiking can actually hike up to the castle ruins which have no admission fee. You can also easily drive up to the ruin, and that’s just one point where our Algarve car rental services come into play.

Those of you who are on a budget will not want to miss the Hostel located just before the bridge, very popular with young backpackers.

The old part of the village has a decent number of bars and restaurants, so you shouldn’t neglect it while on your trip there.