Summer is finally here. After long periods of confinement, with the expressive improvement in the number of coronavirus cases in Portugal and the acceleration of the vaccination process in the country, we are confident that the tourism recovery will really still happen in this half of the year.
LovelyStay, the leading management company in the short-term rental segment in the country, is already seeing this improvement with a significant increase in the number of bookings for the summer. According to a graph released by the company’s Head of Revenue Management, Arthur Lepoutre, during the last 3 weeks bookings have registered an increase of over 465%. This is all mainly due to the announcement of Portugal’s entry on the UK’s green list and the cancellation of the mandatory quarantine for French travelers. See the chart below:
We have previously talked about some of the actions that are driving the recovery in tourism. Check them out at the link.
Want to know more about this increase and the behavior of tourists? We did a brief interview with Arthur Lepoutre. Check it out below:
LovelyStay: From the graph, it is indeed clear the increase in the number of bookings. Which countries book with us the most?
Arthur Lepoutre: Indeed, bookings have increased mainly from British and French travelers, followed by Germans, Spanish, Belgians and Dutch.
LS: The British and French continue to be our biggest audience of tourists during the summer. Is this for all regions or only in the South of Portugal?
AL: As in previous years, British travelers continue to be a big audience within our Algarve properties. The French are spread between the Algarve, Lisbon, and Porto.
LS: From your perspective, will this year’s summer recovery be even better than last year’s?
AL: Based on our current data, we are predicting a better summer than last year. This is mainly explained by what we have learned about the effects of air traffic on our prices in 2020, a larger booking window, and important demand due to the willingness to travel.
LS: Are tourists still making last-minute bookings or are we already getting more early bookings?
AL: We are getting a lot more early bookings. This results in better price averages than last minute bookings.
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The graph and the forecast are very positive. So we will remain confident that the summer of 2021 will be much better than last year’s and that the upturn in tourism is here to stay.
Translated by Miguel Marinho Soares
