“In September, in all tourist accommodation establishments (hotels, apartment hotels, tourist apartments, guesthouses, local accommodation units and rural tourism units) in the Azores, 509.3 thousand overnight stays were recorded, a figure higher by 8. 2% to that registered in the same month”, reads the SREA tourist activity report.

In the first nine months of the year, the region recorded around 3.5 million overnight stays, “representing an increase of 11.2% compared to the same period”.

The total number of guests in this period was 1.1 million, 8.2% higher than the previous year, and the average stay was 3.31 nights, “presenting a positive annual variation rate of 2.8%”.

In September, overnight stays by tourists living abroad (382 thousand) represented 75% of the total, “recording an increase, in the annual comparison, of 11.8%”.

The domestic market fell by 1.5%, totalling 127.3 thousand overnight stays (25% of the total).

Foreign visitors

Among the foreign market, “the United States of America was the largest issuing market, with 64.8 thousand overnight stays (17% of overnight stays by residents abroad) and year-on-year growth of 7.6%”.

In second place comes Germany, with 64.5 thousand overnight stays (16.9%), despite having registered a decrease of 0.4% compared to the previous year.

Next comes Spain, with 62.3 thousand overnight stays (16.3%) and a year-on-year increase of 34.2%.

Above Spain, the markets with the highest annual growth were the Czech Republic (56.6%) and the United Kingdom (48%).

In the opposite direction are Israel (-51.8%), Hungary (-31.0%) and France (-10.6%).

According to SREA, in September, “the hotel industry accounted for 52.4% of all night stays (266.9 thousand), followed by local accommodation, with 42.5% (216.2 thousand), and tourism in rural areas, with 5.1% (26.2 thousand)”.

Considering only the two main types of tourist accommodation establishments, hotels and vacation rentals, which accounted for 94.9% of total overnight stays, almost all islands saw year-on-year growth, with the exception of Graciosa (-9.6%) and Faial (-2%).

The biggest increases in the number of overnight stays occurred on the islands of Flores (21.8%), Santa Maria (12%) and São Jorge (9.4%), followed by Pico (9.2%), Corvo (8, 9 %), Terceira (8.6%) and São Miguel (7.2%).

The island of São Miguel, the largest in the archipelago, concentrated 67.1% of overnight stays in hotels and local accommodation, totaling 324.1 thousand, followed by the Terceira islands, with 62.3 thousand overnight stays (12.9%), Pico, with 32.1 thousand overnight stays (6.6%), and Faial, with 28.9 thousand overnight stays (6%).

Among the different types, rural tourism was the one with the biggest annual increase (26.5%) in the number of overnight stays in September, more than triple that recorded in local accommodation (7.6%) and hotels ( 7.1%).

Total earnings in the hotel industry reached 25 million euros this month (up 17.8%) and the average income per available room was 112.6 euros.

In rural tourism, total gains were 2.7 million euros (56.3% more) and the average income per available room reached 91.8 euros.

In local accommodation, these numbers are not presented, but, according to the report, 14.6% of active establishments “reported that they had no movement of guests” in September.