The percentage for last year was 83%, so there’s a clear upward trend there, many families choosing to rent holiday homes from private owners which reflect better value than traveling to a foreign country because overall cost was seen as the main factor in the holiday destination decision making.

As one might expect, the most popular destination for Portuguese tourists was the Algarve region, which hosted a solid 69% of the country’s internal holidaymakers.

The Beira Litoral and Minho regions saw large growths in demand of 72% and 45% respectively.

The overall tourist figures were boosted by the availability of cheap flights towards well-known destinations in the Algarve such as Faro, Lisbon and Oporto. The numbers were also helped by the the fact that the prices in the Algarve where less than if the equivalent purchases would’ve been made in northern Europe for instance. This might’ve also been a consideration behind the growth of Spanish and French visitors.

Portugal proved to be the fourth most popular country in Europe as far as people searching for places to rent, this representing 11% of the total number.

Another interesting data point that the study revealed was that the Portuguese holidaymakers are big believers in the idea of last minute booking, with 52% of Portuguese tourists who booked in July and August traveling in those same months.

As we mentioned earlier, renting private homes for vacations is becoming increasingly popular, the current economic climate making it a much more cost-effective way of ensuring accommodation during a holiday stay.

These numbers coordinate with those coming from various Algarve sources which has seen an increase in foreign visitors as well.

Some time back we talked about how the ASAE announced that they’ll be taking serious actions against this type of illegal holiday lets, heavy fines for those who fail to comply with the law.

The entire country has seen several inspection actions taking place, and obviously the Algarve has been by far the main target considering the fact that the region sports thousands of holiday homes which are in high demand at this period of the year.

The aim of the inspections is to clamp down on privately owned rooms or villas that are being let without being licensed under the Alojamento Local regime.

During last year, a total of 103 inspections took place and in 35 of them, infractions were detected. So far in 2013, 78 inspections have taken place and 26 infractions recorded, so this means that one-third of the rentals are illegal. Keep in mind though that only half of the summer season has gone in the Algarve, so more inspections are expected to take place before the end of this year’s season.

ASAE mentioned that the inspections are both ‘reactive’ and ‘proactive’, which means that they are carried out both from an annual programme of actions as well as a result of investigations, complaints and denunciations.

The most common problem found by ASAE inspectors is the non compliance with minimum hygiene and safety standards.

The law which governs the ‘Alojamento Local’ lists a series of requirements which these establishments must comply with.

It appears that the road users commission CUVI is organizing a series of civil disobedience demonstrations against the A22 tolls because these have lead to motorists practically deserting the route and over-crowding the alternative EN125 road.

According to the CUVI press release, they consider that the implementation of tolls on the A22 has contributed drastically to the social and economic ruin of the region thus leading to the bankruptcy of thousands of companies and also a decline in tourism.

Besides affecting the influx of Spanish tourists, who once used the A22 to visit the Algarve, this over-crowding of the EN125 has lead to more accidents  which has once again become known as the ‘death road’.

The first protest took place on the 27^th of July and involved a low-speed vehicle march beginning at Altura, Castro Marim, at 4PM. En route, a homage will be paid to the victims of road deaths that have occurred on the EN125.

The second event is planned to involve setting up camping sites in front of the holiday homes of both the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic throughout the first half of August.

The month of August is also planned to see a march and protest at the Festa do Pontal, which is organized by the PSD political party in which the Prime Minister and other members of the government are expected to appear.

A couple of other marches are planned to take place in September as well, which will also be carried out between the two localities, stopping to pay homage to road accident victims as well as one that will begin at the Faro Moto Club and go towards Faro Airport to then end at Forum Algarve shopping centre.