“In August, tourist accommodation establishments in the Azores, which include hotels, local lodgings, and rural tourism, recorded 691,800 overnight stays, a 2.2% increase compared to the same month last year,” stated the SREA’s Tourism Activity report released today.
The SREA highlighted that the growth in overnight stays in the Azores for August outpaced the national rate, which was 1.1%.
From January to August, the Azores accumulated 3.3 million overnight stays in tourist accommodations, marking a 5.8% growth compared to the same period last year.
In August, the region welcomed 195,400 guests, a slight decrease of 0.1%, with an average stay of 3.54 nights, which increased by 2.3% year-on-year.
Foreign residents accounted for the majority of overnight stays this month (81.1%), totaling 561,300, showing a 3.8% increase from the previous year.
For the fifth consecutive month, the domestic market saw a decline in overnight stays in the Azores, totaling 130,500 (18.9% of the total), a decrease of 3.9% compared to August 2024.
Among foreign markets, Spain was the largest source, with 110,800 overnight stays (19.7% of foreign resident stays), reflecting a 1.5% year-on-year growth.
Germany ranked second with 79,200 overnight stays (14.1%), showing a 16.7% increase, followed by France with 70,500 overnight stays (12.6%), up by 2.2%.
Poland (54%), Israel (46.6%), and Austria (33.1%) registered the highest year-on-year growth, while the Netherlands (-7.4%), Canada (-6.7%), Belgium, and Denmark (-4.7%) experienced the largest declines.
Local accommodation accounted for 334,800 overnight stays, representing 48.4% of total tourism stays in the Azores in August. This was the second consecutive month it surpassed hotels, which recorded 317,800 overnight stays (45.9%).
Rural tourism, with 39,200 overnight stays (5.7%), was the fastest-growing category year-on-year (6.6%).
Local accommodation also saw an increase compared to August 2024 (4.6%), while hotels experienced a decline of 0.7%.
When considering only hotels and local accommodations, which accounted for 94.3% of overnight stays, only five of the nine Azorean islands showed year-on-year positive variation in August.
Corvo Island showed the highest growth (21.3%), followed by Pico (10.5%), São Miguel (2.6%), Faial (1.2%), and São Jorge (0.5%).
Conversely, the islands of Terceira (-3.5%), Santa Maria (-3.3%), Graciosa (-2.3%), and Flores (-2.1%) recorded declines in tourist overnight stays this month.
São Miguel, the largest island of the archipelago, accounted for 64.3% of hotel and local accommodation stays (419,400) in August, followed by Terceira with 87,900 stays (13.5%), Pico with 54,800 stays (8.4%), and Faial with 42,500 stays (6.5%).
The domestic market was only prominent in Graciosa Island, constituting 65% of overnight stays.
Among the main external markets, the Spanish were significant in the islands of Flores (27.5%), São Miguel (20.2%), Terceira (12.1%), and Santa Maria (10.5%).
The German market was dominant on Pico (19.8%), while the Italian market was prevalent on Faial (14.7%) and Corvo (13.7%).
In São Jorge, France was the leading foreign market (15%), and in Graciosa, it was the United States of America (12.1%).
In hotels, the net bed occupancy rate reached 76% in August (down 3.3 percentage points), with total revenues rising by 7.3% to 34.8 million euros.
The average revenue per available room was 152.53 euros, and per occupied room, it was 178.30 euros.
Rural tourism showed a net bed occupancy rate of 60.1% (down 4.2 percentage points), with total revenues of 4.2 million euros (up 15.6%).
In this category, the average revenue per available room was 129.75 euros, and per occupied room, it was 195.61 euros.
Regarding local accommodations, no profit data is provided, but the gross bed occupancy rate was 53.6% (down 0.7 percentage points).
The report indicates that 10.7% of active local accommodation establishments reported no guest movement in August.
