“The Tourism Indicator predicts that around 414.5 thousand overnight stays will have been recorded in the month of May throughout the region in all tourist accommodation establishments (hotel, local accommodation and rural tourism)”, a note by SREA reads.

According to the Regional Statistics Service, “the value of this estimate of overnight stays is 19.3% higher when compared to the provisional value for the same month (347.5 thousand)”.

The Tourism Indicator report also highlights the number of passengers disembarking at Azores airports in May, originating abroad and within the national territory (excluding islands in the archipelago).

According to data previously revealed by SREA, passengers from international flights (29,835) increased by 44.4%, while travelers originating from the mainland and Madeira (91,866) increased by 9.9%.

The publication also highlights withdrawals and purchases from ATMs and automatic payment terminals (TPA) made by nationals (189,165 million euros) and foreigners (29,776 million euros) in the month of May, in the Azores.

Purchases made at TPA reached 168.6 million euros (8.8% more than in the same period last year), of which 141.5 million were with national bank cards (6.8% more) and 27.2 million with cards from international banks (plus 20.5%).

Withdrawals from ATMs reached 50.3 million euros (down 2.4%), of which 47.7 million were national (down 2.1%) and 2.6 million were international (down 7.7%).

According to SREA, the Tourism Indicator (IT) “aims to estimate the general evolution of economic activity in the tourism sector in the Autonomous Region of the Azores”.

"IT-Açores results from the addition of estimates of overnight stays recorded in the three types of tourist accommodation and is released approximately three weeks before the publication of the Tourist Activity highlights", the publication reads.

The estimate of overnight stays in the hotel industry, rural tourism and local accommodation "uses the values ​​recorded in the Guest Stay Survey in Hotel Industry and other accommodation" and the "extrapolation of trends according to the expected response rate in each case ", they add.