Albufeira, Portugal, Nov. 13, 2024 (Lusa) - Hoteliers in Portugal's Algarve region are predicting a slight increase in their occupancy rates for the New Year's Eve period, compared to 2023, "but without much impact on tourism" overall, the president of the main regional hotel association said on Wednesday.

"We expect occupancy to be slightly above the eighty per cent recorded last year in the units that will be open for this period," the president of the Algarve Hotels and Tourist Resorts Association (AHETA), Helder Martins, told Lusa.

According to Martins, unlike Christmas, which is "a holiday spent more at home and with the family and with no impact on tourist accommodation", New Year's Eve "attracts more people to the region, but that's not what will change the month.

"This is the lowest time of the year: there are months with accommodation occupancy rates of around thirty per cent, increasing slightly for New Year's Eve, but only by one or two nights, which is not significant," he noted.

However, he added, hoteliers are expecting, "for this short period, a slight increase on last year."

According to Martins, the projected increases are reflected above all in the units that offer packages including accommodation and entertainment, as well as in those municipalities that lay on street entertainment over the holiday.

"These are offers that attract people and have some impact on accommodation in the units that will be operating during this period," emphasised the AHETA president.

Martins said that he as yet had no information on the rate of bookings for the festive season, adding that these "start to be in demand when the resorts announce the entertainment programme and then the last-minute bookings" - in other words, in the week before the end of the year.

"It's a period that's more sought after by the domestic market, but it comes down to a short stay and, in our experience, it doesn't have much impact on tourism in the region," he concluded.

JPC/ARO // ARO.

Lusa