The Algarve is once again bustling with tourists from all over the world this summer. Many return year after year because of the quality of accommodation, food and beaches. The region’s hotel industry and hoteliers association, AHETA, has compiled figures for tourism in July, which revealed that holidaymakers prefer to stay in luxury accommodation when they visit the Algarve.

Luxury villas and apartments with four and five star ratings, which are registered with AHETA, were on average 89.7 per cent full and five star hotels saw 72.7 per cent of their rooms occupied. These figures show a substantial increase on last year’s figures.

Hotels and other places of accommodation that were rated three star and below were 83.9 per cent full in July, representing a 7.9 per cent increase against the same month in 2005.

The Albufeira area was around 90 per cent full throughout July and the lowest occupancies were seen in the Lagos and Sagres areas, where only 76 per cent of holiday accommodation had been filled. Occupancies in two star hotels were up 36.6 per cent.

As usual, British tourists dominated the holiday market, representing 38.2 per cent of the total occupancies, up 8.6 per cent from July 2005. However, the Portuguese tourist ratio was down 5.3 per cent from the same time last year, representing 24.7 per cent of the market.

source: the resident