The Azores’ Local Accommodation Association (ALA) is concerned about the drop in overnight tourist stays and is calling on the Regional Government to intervene.
“In view of the figures for January and the forecasts for February and March, the ALA warns of the urgent need for action by the Government of the Azores and VisitAzores, significantly increasing the promotion of the Archipelago abroad, in order to generate more tourist flows to the Azores and thus try to minimize the losses,” the association said in a press release.
According to the Azores Regional Statistics Service (SREA), in January, the number of overnight stays in the different types of tourist accommodation fell by 2.5% year-on-year after falling by 5.4% in December. The drop in January was more pronounced in local accommodation, standing at 4.4%. More than half of local accommodation establishments (65.6%) reported “no movement of guests” in the year’s first month.
The association recalls that it had already warned of the possible negative impact of the closure of the Ryanair base. “The ALA board believes that urgent action is needed to avoid a drastic reduction in the number of overnight stays, which would have a strong impact on the sector’s employment capacity and, more importantly, on the economy of the Azores,” it said.
The ALA was also concerned that Ryanair still has no flights scheduled for the Azores next winter.
“If confirmed, the absence of this airline in the Azores for almost six months will be a severe blow to the region’s economy, which includes local accommodation, further accentuating the seasonality of tourism in the Azores,” it stressed.
SREA’s figures for January indicate a greater drop in overnight stays from domestic tourists. In the different types of accommodation, the domestic market fell by 7.9%, while the national market rose by 4.2%. As for local accommodation, overnight stays by national residents fell by 7.5% and by foreigners by 2.5%.
“The slowdown in tourism at national level could also be a destabilizing factor for the sector in the Azores, since the Portuguese mainland is a very important source market for our archipelago,” warned the ALA.

in 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 Media Alliance)  at California State University, Fresno–PBBI thanks the sponsorship of the Luso-American Development Foundation from Lisbon, Portugal (FLAD)