In February, accommodation establishments in the Azores, spanning hotels, local lodgings, and rural tourism, recorded 162,300 overnight stays, marking a 2.5% increase compared to the same month last year, as noted in the SREA Tourism Activity report for February.
During this period, Azorean tourist accommodations hosted 57,600 guests, an increase of 9.2%, with an average stay of 2.82 nights, representing a 6.1% decrease year-over-year.
The domestic market accounted for over half of the overnight stays (53%), totaling 85,900, though experiencing a 1.8% decline from February 2024.
Conversely, the international market saw a 7.9% rise, reaching 76,300 overnight stays.
Among international markets, the United States led as the largest source, with 13,000 stays, representing 17.1% of overseas resident stays, despite experiencing an 8% decrease from the previous year.
Germany followed with 12,200 stays (16%), reflecting a 26.4% increase, while Canada ranked third with 9,800 stays (12.9%), growing by 4.6%.
The markets showing the most significant year-over-year growth included Hungary (93.2%), Austria (51.7%), Israel (46.3%), and the Czech Republic (44.1%), while Brazil (-20.5%), Italy (-16.6%), and Belgium (-15.9%) faced the largest declines.
Hotels accounted for 101,200 overnight stays, or 62.4% of the total in February, followed by local lodgings with 55,100 stays (34%) and rural tourism with 5,900 stays (3.6%).
Rural tourism exhibited a 51.5% year-on-year increase in stays, while hotels rose by 2.2%, and local lodging experienced a 0.4% decrease.
Focusing on hotels and local lodgings, which comprised 96.4% of the stays, only five of the nine islands in the archipelago recorded an increase in overnight stays in February.
Sao Jorge saw the most significant increase (48.7%), followed by Flores (21.4%), Terceira (2.7%), Faial (2.2%), and Sao Miguel (1.1%).
In contrast, Graciosa (-49.1%), Corvo (-19.9%), Santa Maria (-13.9%), and Pico (-6.1%) reported declines in overnight stays.
Sao Miguel, the largest island in the archipelago, accounted for 73.2% of the overnight stays in hotels and local lodgings (114,400), followed by Terceira with 24,900 stays (15.9%), Faial with 7,700 (4.9%), and Pico with 4,000 (2.5%).
Excluding Sao Miguel, the national market had a more substantial presence in the overnight stays on all islands, most notably on Graciosa (92.3%), Corvo (84%), and Santa Maria (83.1%).
On most islands, the primary external markets were the United States and Germany, although in Corvo, Spain stood out (9.3%) and in Graciosa, the United Kingdom (4.5%).
In the hotel sector, the net occupancy rate per bed reached 30.9% in February, an increase of 0.9 percentage points, and the total revenue rose by 9.5% to 5.8 million euros.
The average revenue per available room was 25.63 euros, with 67.07 euros per room used.
Rural tourism reported a bed occupancy rate of 19.8%, up by 5.1 percentage points, and total revenue of 525,300 euros, a 16.1% increase.
This category attained an average revenue of 29.84 euros per available room and 133.33 euros per room used.
For local lodging, revenue data was not provided, but the occupancy rate per bed was 23%, an increase of 0.6 percentage points.
The report indicates that 63.4% of active local lodging establishments reported no guest activity in February.
