The ‘Algarve Tourism Scenario’ overview from the second quarter of 2013 showed “positive variations” in all of the touristic indicators that it analysed.
Produced as a tool for professionals working in the sector, the Algarve Tourism Board’s bulletin revealed that, between April and June 2013, “the behaviour of the main indicators was frankly positive, driven by a demand from foreign visitors that contradicted the slight drop in figures from national visitors.”
“The results let us predict a good performance also for the ensuing months”, the report forecast.
During the second quarter of 2013 the total number of guests staying in the Algarve was close to 936,000, an increase of 3.6 percent in comparison to the same period of 2012.
The growth was spurred by an increase in the number of foreign visitors, up by 5.56 percent on last year’s figures, whereas the number of national visitors to the Algarve fell again, by 1.34 percent in relation to 2012.
By nationality, Britons made up the largest slice of foreign tourists in the Algarve in the second quarter of 2013, building on figures from April – June 2012 and outweighing the number of Portuguese tourists who visited the Algarve during that same period.
This reversed the scenario from the first quarter of 2013 when the number of Portuguese nationals holidaying in the Algarve exceeded the number of British tourists.
During the second quarter of 2013 the UK represented 31.9 percent of all guests in the region between April and June whereas Portugal provided 26.8 percent, and Germany supplied 8.1 percent of tourists.
The Spanish market shrunk even further, by 18.3 percent, with just 10,234 Spaniards visiting the Algarve during the second quarter. 
However, a rise of 19.2 percent in the number of Irish visitors, topped up with a 13.5 percent rise in the number of Dutch visitors and a growth of 13.3 percent in German tourists compensated for the drop in Portuguese and Spanish tourists.
Altogether, 26,750 more Irish, Dutch and German nationals holidayed in the Algarve between April and June this year than during the same period of 2012.
During the three-month period analysed in the report, the region registered more than four million overnight stays – 4,148,137 overnight stays to be exact – up 6.6 percent on figures from 2012.
The average length of stay was also longer, at 4.4 nights, 0.1 nights longer than the same period last year.
Golfers enjoyed a total of 282,973 rounds of golf during that period, up 4.2 percent (or 11,000 more) than in 2012.
Overall revenue intake was €157.3 million, up 6.7 percent on April – June 2012, making the Algarve the second most profitable region in Portugal in terms of second-quarter tourism proceeds, after Lisbon.
The Faro tourist office was the busiest of the Algarve’s tourist bureaus, having helped the greatest number of visitors with their queries during the period studied, followed by Albufeira, and Tavira, in third.

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