The Algarve should stop measuring tourism success simply by how many more visitors it can attract, according to the region’s tourism chief, who says the focus must now shift to how much value the sector actually brings to local communities and businesses.
Speaking at the opening of the AHRESP Congress in Lagoa, André Gomes, president of regional tourism board Turismo do Algarve, said the region has moved beyond the period of “exponential double-digit growth” in guest numbers.
“We are clearly in a phase of consolidation,” he said, cited by Publituris. “We have to place greater value on the impact our activity adds, both to the territories and to our companies and local communities.
“We have clearly moved beyond the phase of exponential double-digit growth in guest numbers, and I do not believe that should be our focus now.”
Instead, he argued, the Algarve should concentrate on making tourism work harder for the region itself.
Beyond sun and beaches
Gomes pointed to the diversification of the Algarve’s tourism offer over the past decade, with greater emphasis on nature, heritage, culture and gastronomy alongside its traditional sun-and-beach appeal.
The region has also sought to widen its source markets, attracting more visitors from northern Europe in addition to its long-established British, Irish and German markets.
But Gomes warned that the Algarve’s tourism success sits alongside major problems for the people who actually live and work in the region.
“The Algarve is a region with very significant challenges for those who live and work here,” he said. “We always feel there is a deficit in structural investment from central government.”
He highlighted housing and mobility as two areas in particular where the region needs “effective responses, factual responses and concrete investment”.
‘Same amount to the cent since 2016’
Gomes also used his speech to send what he described as a “message” to the Finance Minister over funding for Portugal’s regional tourism bodies.
“Since 2016, we have received exactly the same amount, to the cent, from the State Budget for the activity carried out by regional tourism entities,” he said.
Secretary of State for Tourism, Commerce and Services Pedro Machado, who was also at the opening session, responded by saying that the usual €16.4 million allocated to regional tourism entities will be reinforced this year, with funding approaching €30 million.
Tourism success not always felt locally
Gomes also acknowledged a disconnect between the strong financial results regularly reported by the tourism sector and how that success is perceived by local residents.
“There is still a distance between the results we have been showing in terms of the revenues generated by tourism and what is perceived by our local communities,” he said. “There is still work to be done.”
For the Algarve tourism president, that gap is becoming increasingly important as the region moves away from simply chasing visitor growth.
The challenge now, he argued, is to make sure the sector’s success is translated into greater benefits for local businesses, workers, residents and the wider territory.
The AHRESP Congress – organised by the Portuguese restaurant and hotel sector association – is taking place at the Arade Congress Centre in Lagoa until this Friday (October 23), bringing together around 1,200 delegates in the year the association celebrates its 130th anniversary.