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Portugal Tourism: Tourism – 3rd best year

Date: 22/9/2009

The State Secretary for Tourism has this week brushed aside talk of a black year. Armed with latest figures, Bernardo Trindade revealed Portugal had reason to be pleased at the manner in which the tourist industry has performed thus far in 2009.

"What 2009 is proving, is that despite the crisis, this is in fact the third best year", said the state secretary.

Bernardo Trindade further explained that official figures supplied by the Office of National Statistics (INE) and those published by tourism associations, show the tide has turned.

"Information we have for August 2009 points to occupancy rates of well above 90 percent in the Algarve, with strong domestic support boosting figures, while the Douro region had occupancy rates of 75 percent and 80 percent in the rural tourism sector", he said.

Occupancy figures in the Algarve last month were exactly the same as those recorded the same period in 2008 - the best year for tourism in Portugal on record.

"Although this has not been the best year for tourism, what 2009 is showing is that despite the crisis, this remains the third best year", stressed the state secretary.

While Bernardo Trindade declined to supply final data, he forecast that the expected drop in tourism figures at the end of the year will be nowhere near the 30 percent fall projected at the beginning of the year by "industry experts".

Instead, he predicted that damage will be limited to a single-digit drop in figures.

"I believe the final three months of the year will be very important, as they will be compared against the three very bad months of October, November and December in 2008", he explained. As the final quarter of 2008 compared with the final quarter of 2009 could actually have been worse, this year’s results might draw even closer to last year’s record figures.

As for the expected drop in revenue in the tourist industry, Bernardo Trindade declined to make any statistical projection.

However, the INE in its most recent publication indicated that income generated by the tourist industry dropped to 973 million euros for the first seven months of the year, having exceeded a billion euros in 2008.

"What we have always pledged to do is to work, and not respond to premature analyses, many of which said this would be the worst summer of the century – especially in the Algarve", said Trindade.

The state secretary also singled out the work done by the tourist industry in forging partnerships with airlines and tourist operators which he says has allowed the sector to escape the crisis largely unscathed, especially when compared with the hardship currently being faced by competing tourist destinations across the globe. Source: The Portugal News

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