The Azores recorded 370.7 thousand overnight stays in tourist accommodation in the month of October, 2% less than in the same period last year, according to data revealed this Friday, 28th, by the Regional Statistics Service (SREA).
“In October, in all tourist accommodation establishments (hospitality, local accommodation and tourism in rural areas) in the Azores, 370.7 thousand overnight stays were registered, a value 2% lower than that recorded in the same month”, reads the SREA Tourist Activity report, released today.
This is the second consecutive year-on-year decline, after 18 months of growth in the number of tourist overnight stays in the archipelago.
According to SREA, at national level, in October, there was a positive year-on-year variation of 2.3%.
In the first 10 months of the year, the Azores reached 4.2 million overnight stays in tourist accommodation, which represented a growth of 4.9% compared to the same period last year.
In October, the region had 112.9 thousand guests (1.7% less), with an average stay of 3.28 nights, which fell 0.4% year-on-year.
Residents abroad accounted for more than half of overnight stays this month (68.8%), totaling 255.1 thousand, 0.8% more than in October 2024.
For seven months, the national market has recorded a reduction in overnight stays in the Azores compared to the same period last year. In October it was 7.7% less, with 115.6 thousand overnight stays (31.2% of the total).
Among foreign markets, Germany was the largest source market this month, with 51.8 thousand overnight stays (20.3% of overnight stays from residents abroad), still showing a drop of 3.1% compared to October 2024.
In second place comes the United States of America, with 35.5 thousand overnight stays (13.9%), showing a reduction of 7.4%, and in third place is Spain, with 26.8 thousand overnight stays (10.5%) and a decrease of 3.1%.
Poland (43.2%), the United Kingdom (24.5%) and Israel (23.2%) were the markets with the highest year-on-year growth, while Slovakia (-29.2%), Czechia (-15.4%) and Brazil (-14%) showed the biggest drops.
With 207.4 overnight stays, the hotel sector accounted for 56% of all tourist overnight stays in the archipelago in October, followed by local accommodation, with 145.6 thousand overnight stays (39.3%) and rural tourism, with 17.7 thousand overnight stays (4.8%).
The three types registered a year-on-year reduction in overnight stays this month. The most significant occurred in tourism in rural areas (-4.3%), followed by hotels (-2.6%) and local accommodation (-0.9%).
Considering only hotels and local accommodation, which accounted for 95.2% of overnight stays in October, only three of the archipelago’s nine islands recorded a positive year-on-year change: Corvo (18.6%), Santa Maria (11.2%) and Pico (1.1%).
The biggest year-on-year reduction occurred on the island of Graciosa (-7.6%), followed by São Jorge (-6.2%), Flores (-3.7%), Terceira (-3.7%), São Miguel (-1.9%) and Faial (-1.6%).
The island of São Miguel, the largest in the archipelago, concentrated 71.3% of overnight stays in hotels and local accommodation (251.7 thousand), this month, followed by Terceira, with 46.2 thousand overnight stays (13.1%), Faial, with 18.5 thousand overnight stays (5.3%) and Pico, with 18.2 thousand overnight stays (5.2%).
The national market stood out with greater weight in overnight stays on the islands of Graciosa (78.4%), Santa Maria (61.1%), Terceira (57.3%) and Corvo (53.3%).
Among foreign markets, German was predominant on the islands of Pico (24.6%), São Jorge (16.0%), Faial (15.6%), São Miguel (14.0%), Corvo (10.9%), Santa Maria (7.4%) and Graciosa (6.1%), Spanish on Flores (14.5%) and North American on Terceira (8.4%).
In hotels, the net occupancy rate per bed reached 51.1% in October (down 3.4 percentage points) and total revenue rose 6.7% to 16.9 million euros.
Tourism in rural areas presented a net occupancy rate per bed of 39.5% (down 3.3 percentage points) and total income of 1.7 million euros (up 2.6%).
In local accommodation, data on income is not presented, but the gross occupancy rate per bed was 29.7% (1.9 percentage points less).
According to the report, 31.8% of active local accommodation establishments reported that they had no guest movement in October.