The peak summer season of the Algarve has just ended and according to the overall strategy for the region, the RTA put this sort of ‘road-show’ together in order to attract more Spanish tourists to the region during the low-season. We know that in order for the Algarve to develop and thrive further, it has to start marketing itself during its off season as well, and this is part of a move to do just that.

The road-trip will last for three days, with the bus heading towards Seville, Granada and Madrid, where workshops will be held to promote the Algarve to potential visitors. The road-show will aim to also convince Spanish professionals to promote Algarve holiday packages to their local clientele.

Desiderio Silva – the head of the RTA – said that this tour round Spanish travel agents is meant to promote the Algarve to a universe of about 14 million Spaniard residents in the communities of Madrid and Andalucia, he continued to say that this will prove to be beneficial to the Algarve tourism business overall.

The road-show will include a dinner in each city meant exclusively for trade professionals, local press and other local entities which are relevant to the cause, the number expected to show up is of around 300 people in total.

Silva added that this programme has already shown success by the number of confirmation that have arrived. The initiative will be taking place in October, a date that was chosen so as to coincide with the start of the Algarve low-season.

This initiative will be repeated in November when it will be going to Corunna and Vigo in Spain, as well as Oporto and Aveiro, in northern Portugal meant to boost interest among national tourists.

After all is said and done, the RTA has invested about 55,000 Euros in these initiatives.

And it appears that starting with the month of June the Algarve and Seville started working together in order to promote each other as tourist destinations. This new cooperation being made possible by the signing of a protocol between the Algarve Tourism Board and the Diputacion Provincial de Sevilla – or Seville Country Council – on June 10.

According to Desiderio Silva – president of Algarve Toruism – the goal of the Algarve is to have a much greater visibility as a tourism destination in Spain. The idea of securing this protocol, which will be reciprocal in terms of promotion, is just one way of achieving this goal and allowing the Algarve tourism industry to materialize projects that value both the Algarvean and the Andalusian territories.

The ceremony to ratify the document took place in Faro on June 19.

This tourism alliance wants to make the Algarve one of the main travel choices for Spanish holidaymakers, hoping to, at the same time, enhance the Iberian destinations in the eyes of Algarvians through promoting the Spanish complementary tourism products throughout the year.

During the ratification ceremony, Desiderio Silva said that the protocol should also help to ‘increase the number of Spanish visitors in the south of Portugal, and of Portuguese visitors in the province of Seville’ a desired outcome that will prove to be very positive for hotels, restaurants, and all around for the businesses in both countries.

At the ceremony, the vice-president of the Diputacion Provincial de Sevilla – Maria Dolores – was also present, and she presented Seville as a destination for Algarve residents.