According to estimates released today by the Regional Statistics Service (SREA), the Azores recorded approximately 197,000 overnight stays in tourist accommodations in March, exceeding the numbers for the same month in 2019 (pre-pandemic covid-19).
“The Tourism Indicator predicts that approximately 197,000 overnight stays in tourist accommodations will have been recorded throughout the region in March,” reads a publication released today by SREA on its website, referring to overnight stays in traditional hotels, rural tourism, and local accommodations.
According to SREA’s report on tourism activity, the Azores recorded 161,026 overnight stays in tourist accommodations in March 2019.
Compared to this period, SREA’s projections for March 2023 indicate a 22.3% increase.
The year preceding the declaration of the covid-19 pandemic was also the most successful year for tourism in the Azores.
With 160,721 overnight stays in the various types of accommodation in March 2022, the region had practically recovered from the decline seen in the two years in which the activity was most affected by the pandemic; this number would increase by 22.6% in 2023.
The publication also highlights the number of passengers who disembarked from domestic flights (from the Portuguese mainland or Madeira) and international flights in the same month at the airports of the Azores.
Again, March’s figures indicate expansion relative to 2019.
Domestic flight arrivals increased by 19.6% from 57,099 in 2019 to 68,263 in 2023.
The number of international passengers disembarking in the Azores increased by 25.4%, from 7,908 to 9,008.
There were 11.2% more passengers on domestic flights and 62.5% more on international flights compared to March 2022.
According to SREA, the Tourism Indicator (IT) “aims to estimate the general evolution of the tourism sector’s economic activity in the Autonomous Region of the Azores.
“The IT-Acores result from the addition of the estimates of overnight stays registered in the three types of tourist accommodation and are released approximately three weeks prior to the publication of the Tourist Activity highlight,” the publication explains.
The estimation of overnight stays in hotels, rural tourism, and local accommodation “uses the values recorded in the Survey on the Stay of Guests in Hotels and Other Accommodation” and “extrapolates trends based on the expected response rate in each case.
