The demand for end-of-year travel confirms one of the strongest ‘New Year’s Eve’ sales ever, despite the general rise in prices, with Madeira, Brazil and Morocco asserting themselves as unmissable destinations for the Portuguese.
Although these are the main conclusions of the tour operators and travel agency network interviewed by Lusa, also note a transversal pattern of year-end programs sold out in organized groups for distant routeswhich are arousing greater interest among Portuguese tourists, who are increasingly available for long and different experiences, they say.
“This period towards the end of the year is always normal to have ‘a lot of appetite’ for Madeira. Sales are higher compared to last year for Madeira and Brazil. Madeira and its fireworks are very popular. And for Brazil the ‘charters’ [voos fretados] of operators are well occupied, with good sales, but more and more there are tailor-made packages made for this time”, said Bestravel’s Director of Operations, Ricardo Teles, to Lusa.
“Due to the proximity and all the work that has been done throughout the year, Morocco also has a lot of demand for the end of the year, especially Marrakesh (…)”, he added.
Destination options for the Portuguese also confirmed by the operations manager at Solférias, Sónia Regateiro, and by the executive president (CEO) of Pinto Lopes Viagens, Rui Pinto Lopes.
“At the end of the year, Brazil continued to be, once again, a ‘top seller’ [mais vendido]. We have three charter flights to Brazil that are full again. Unfortunately, we were unable to make the fourth plane available from Portugal – which we would sell – due to the lack of demand for Brazilians for our country, which was a shame”, explained Sónia Regateiro.
In this operator, Cape Verde followswhich “continues to be very popular” for New Year’s Eve – “it is a destination four hours from Lisbon, ideal for families and which, at this time, continues to have a mild climate where you can go to the beach” – and Madeira.
“Solférias this year once again has three charter flights to Funchal on New Year’s Eve, from Porto and Lisbon, completely full. Another success,” said the person in charge.
The CEO of Pinto Lopes Viagens also confirms that he has “several groups” in Morocco, as usual, explaining that they opt for circuits rather than just one city. “We will travel between Marrakesh, Fez, the desert, Casablanca, Rabat,” he said.
What has changed, they confirmed, is the preference for just two or three national destinations, which traditionally were limited to Funchal, Serra da Estrela and Algarve.
“We also have a lot of demand for other destinations in Portugal. We have already talked about Madeira as islands – even less so for the Azores, but it is rising compared to previous years -, then on the mainland we have Porto and even other diversified ones. Let’s not forget that the destination that agencies sell the most to is Portugal”says the person responsible for Bestravel.
“The end of the year is all sold out”, underlined Rui Pinto Lopes, confirming, later, that they launched new products in Portugal and Spain, from Alentejo, to the center, “like Tomar”, or in Spain, “from Galicia to Toledo (…)”.
The operators and agency network also pointed out other routes, some of which have been exhausted at this time, ranging from other destinations in Europe, to Middle East, Africa and Asia, including the “Baltics, Iceland, Lapland” or “the Emirates circuit”, “Dubai and Qatar” from Bestravel or “São Tomé and Príncipe, Mexico and Cuba” from Solférias.
Confirmed by everyone was the general rise in prices this year, motivated, above all, they said, by aviation costs and hotel prices. High demand also puts pressure on prices, they recalled.
Tour operators and travel agencies spoke at the 50th National Congress of the Portuguese Association of Travel Agencies, which took place in Macau last week.