From January to June this year, overnight hotel stays fell in Terceira, while those in local accommodation rose by around 7%.

Overnight stays in hotels on Terceira fell by 10.6% from January to June this year compared to the same period in 2022, standing at 135,812. At the same time, overnight stays in local accommodations on the island increased by 7.2%, with a total of 56,713.  In June, overnight stays rose by 1.6% in Terceira’s hotels and by 3.1% in local accommodation compared to last year.  The data comes from the Azores Regional Statistics Service (SREA).

The region (the entire archipelago of nine islands)  recorded 899,198 overnight stays in the hotel sector from January to June, an increase of 10.5%. Terceira and Flores (-0.5) were the islands that saw a drop in hotel stays in the first half of the year.

Also, from January to June, there were 563.1 thousand overnight stays in local accommodation in the region, up 28.2%.  During the month of June, the SREA stated that in the Azores, “in hotels, rural tourism, and local accommodation as a whole, there were 407.9 thousand overnight stays, representing a year-on-year increase of 5.8%”.  In Portugal, overnight stays increased by 3.7% in June.

Regarding hotels alone, there were 233,600 overnight stays in the region, a year-on-year increase of 1.5%.  Rural tourism recorded 15.7 thousand overnight stays, a year-on-year increase of 30.2%, and local accommodation had 158.7 thousand overnight stays, up 10.6%.

Also, in June, all the islands showed favorable year-on-year variations in overnight stays in local accommodation, with significant increases in Graciosa (48.3%), Santa Maria (39.6%), and Flores (19.8%). They were followed by São Miguel (13.9%), São Jorge (3.7%), Terceira (3.1%), Faial (1.8%) and Pico (0.3%)”.  Corvo didn’t record any declared overnight stays that month.

Santa Maria (13%), Corvo (10%), Pico and São Miguel (2.3%), Graciosa (2.1%), and Terceira (1.6%) showed increases in hotel stays that month. São Jorge (-7.9%), Faial (-6.0%) and Flores (-3.2%) were down.

Regarding the general figures for the archipelago in June, the SREA publication states that residents in Portugal recorded around 124,900 overnight stays, corresponding to a decrease of 13% compared to the same month last year. Foreign tourists accounted for 283,000 overnight stays, a year-on-year increase of 17%.

“The number of guests was 128,000, a year-on-year increase of 7.7%,” it said.

“In the first half of 2023, the total number of overnight stays was 1,511,000, representing a year-on-year increase of 17.3%. The total number of guests was 494.3 thousand, 18.8% more than in the same period in the previous year. During this period, the average stay was 3.06 days,” the statistics office said.

STATISTICS FROM THE AZORES REGIONAL STATISTICAL SERVICE

This story is from the newspaper Diário Insular, José Lourenço, director.

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Cultures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Medial Alliance)  at California State University, Fresno.