For years, the Azores stood among Europe’s fastest-growing tourism destinations, attracting international recognition for their volcanic landscapes, sustainability, and authentic island culture. But after a period of record-breaking growth, signs of a market correction are becoming increasingly visible, particularly among the archipelago’s rural tourism accommodations, where business owners say the challenge is no longer attracting attention to the islands—it is attracting the right visitors, at the right time of year, with the right expectations.
Across Terceira Island, owners of rural tourism properties are reporting significant declines in bookings, with some experiencing occupancy reductions of 30 to 40 percent compared with last year. While a combination of external factors—including the departure of Ryanair from the Azorean market and travel uncertainty linked to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East—has contributed to the slowdown, many entrepreneurs believe the deeper issue lies in how the Azores continue to be marketed internationally.
“We don’t have a real understanding of the variety that exists among the islands,” says Francisco Maduro-Dias, owner of Quinta do Espírito Santo, speaking during a gathering of the Casas Açorianas association. “The Azores are sold as if they were a single place. They should be presented like a diamond with many different facets, where visitors can discover several distinct destinations.”
His comments come as official statistics confirm a broader deceleration in tourism.
According to the Azores Regional Statistics Service (SREA), overnight stays across the Region declined 5.6 percent during the first five months of 2026. The impact has been considerably more pronounced in rural tourism accommodations, where overnight stays fell 15.2 percent, highlighting the vulnerability of a sector that has become synonymous with the Azores’ commitment to sustainable tourism.
For Maduro-Dias, the numbers are even more dramatic.
At his property, bookings have fallen by roughly 30 percent, a decline he attributes partly to the withdrawal of Ryanair and to the uncertainty generated by the conflict involving Iran, which led some travelers to reconsider international travel altogether.
“I had many reservations where guests simply called to say they preferred not to come because they weren’t sure they would be able to fly home,” he explains. “Instead, they chose destinations they could reach by car.”
Sandra Lima, owner of Casa do Plátano, has experienced similar difficulties, estimating that her business has declined between 30 and 40 percent during 2026.
She has managed to maintain reasonable occupancy through partnerships with travel agencies, but says independent bookings through platforms such as Booking.com and Airbnb have fallen sharply, accompanied by an unusual number of last-minute cancellations.
“There has been a major drop,” she says. “Perhaps because of Ryanair—I can’t say for certain—but we had many cancellations just before arrival.”
The slowdown is visible beyond individual businesses.
“You walk through Angra, and it feels empty,” she observes. “Friends of mine who own other accommodations are saying exactly the same thing.”
The decline appears especially significant in the domestic market. Maduro-Dias estimates that approximately 95 percent of his guests now come from abroad, leaving only a small share of Portuguese visitors. Yet even among domestic travelers, he believes expectations are often misaligned with the reality of the destination. “Many leave feeling they didn’t fully appreciate what they found because they were expecting something completely different,” he says.
Sandra Lima agrees that the Portuguese market has weakened considerably, suggesting that domestic travelers may have been particularly affected by the disappearance of low-cost airline options.
Seasonality remains another persistent concern. For many rural tourism operators, meaningful business activity is concentrated between mid-May and the end of September, with little demand during the winter months.
“From November through February, I practically don’t work,” Lima explains. “Things begin to improve slightly in March, April, and May, but the high season is still very short.”
Maduro-Dias argues that winter tourism is not limited by the climate itself but by perceptions of it. “It was a German guest who once explained it to me,” he recalls. “‘There is no bad weather—only inappropriate clothing.’ We don’t have bad weather. We simply need to explain what visitors should bring.”
That observation reflects a broader conviction shared by many members of Casas Açorianas: the Azores need a different tourism narrative.
Rather than competing with traditional sun-and-beach destinations such as the Canary Islands, they argue that the Region should continue positioning itself as a destination for travelers seeking authenticity, nature, culture, and meaningful experiences.
“We don’t want mass tourism,” Maduro-Dias insists. “We want quality tourism. But quality tourism requires informed visitors.” He illustrates the problem with a recent inquiry from an Italian traveler planning to spend fifteen days in the Azores who believed it would be possible to visit Graciosa in the morning and São Jorge in the afternoon.
“That person had absolutely no understanding of the geography of the archipelago,” he says. “It means the promotional campaign simply wasn’t appropriate.”
Maduro-Dias also argues that successive tourism studies commissioned over nearly two decades have repeatedly identified how each island should be promoted individually, yet their recommendations have rarely been implemented.
“I’ve seen reports in 2008, 2010, 2015, and 2017 explaining exactly what should be done for each island,” he says. “Then we continue investing exactly as before, and those reports remain sitting in drawers.”
He also believes the Region has failed to explain the diversity of its own accommodation sector.
Many visitors, he argues, have little understanding of the distinctions between country houses, rural tourism, heritage accommodations, and other lodging categories because those concepts are insufficiently explained in destination marketing materials.
The president of Casas Açorianas, Gilberto Vieira, believes the moment has arrived to rethink the Region’s tourism strategy.
Promotion, he argues, should become more targeted, focusing on markets that generate greater economic and cultural value rather than simply increasing visitor numbers.
“The Azores are not an expensive destination,” Vieira says. “They are a rare destination.”
That distinction, he believes, should become central to the Region’s international identity.
Like other rural tourism operators, Vieira also emphasizes the need to reduce seasonality by attracting visitors during the shoulder seasons rather than relying almost exclusively on the summer months. Achieving that goal, however, will require greater investment, better market intelligence, and more sophisticated promotional campaigns.
For Terceira in particular, he believes the island possesses a distinctive tourism product that deserves clearer positioning while strengthening its role as both a destination and a gateway to the Central Group of islands.
Accessibility also remains part of the discussion. Rather than focusing solely on restoring direct international routes, Vieira argues that improving the cost and scheduling of inter-island air connections may ultimately prove more valuable, allowing visitors arriving on one island to explore the wider archipelago more easily.
As for Ryanair’s departure, his message is one of pragmatism. “We need to stop talking about Ryanair,” he says. “That chapter is over. There are many other airlines looking for something different—a well-organized, distinctive, authentic destination like the Azores.”
His words perhaps capture the larger challenge now facing Azorean tourism. The question is no longer whether the islands can attract visitors—they have already demonstrated that they can. The challenge is ensuring that future growth is built not simply on increasing numbers, but on deeper understanding: visitors who appreciate the diversity of the nine islands, travel throughout the year, respect the landscapes and communities they encounter, and leave having experienced the Azores not as a single destination, but as an extraordinary archipelago of many distinct worlds.
Based on a story in Diário Insular, José Lourenço-director, Photos from DI.