Evora, Portugal, Dec. 19, 2025 (Lusa) - New Year's Eve promises a flood of tourists in Portugal's Alentejo region, with hotels close to full occupancy, while expectations for Christmas are lower, the president of the Regional Tourism Authority said on Friday.
Speaking to the Lusa news agency, the president of the Regional Tourism Authority for Alentejo and Ribatejo, José Manuel Santos, emphasised that, "as a rule", the region sees "excellent occupancy" during this festive period, particularly for the New Year.
"Half of our sample [representative of hotel capacity] tells us that the expectation is that the New Year will be better" than a year ago and the other half shows that "it will be the same", that is, "an occupancy rate above 80%", he said.
He noted that hotels and tourist facilities in the Alentejo region currently have "around 65% to 75%" of reservations for the New Year, with occupancy expected to be "above 90%" at the turn of 2026.
"There is an increasing trend towards last-minute bookings, not only in the Portuguese market, but also in some Spanish markets," he pointed out, insisting that bookings "will increase as the last days of the year approach".
Noting that there are "some intraregional variations," the president of the Tourism Authority of the Alentejo and Ribatejo region pointed out that, in the case of Évora, "as a rule, it reaches almost full occupancy."
"Our expectation is, once again, to have a very significant occupancy rate at the end of the year, above 90%, which is nothing new. Then, there will obviously be intraregional variations," he reiterated.
As for Christmas, José Manuel Santos pointed out that it continues to be a time that "people predominantly spend at home with their families," noting, however, that "it is also growing as a period of travel."
"This year, there are even some tourists of other nationalities, such as Spanish, American and Brazilian," but "we cannot compare the Christmas period with the end of the year," he stressed.
According to the official, the estimated occupancy rate for Christmas is around 50% to 55%.
In Évora, the Hotel M'ar de Ar Aqueduto has 80% occupancy for Christmas, while the M'ar de Ar Muralhas has 60% reservations for the same period, a source from this hotel group told Lusa, emphasising that both hotels are already fully booked for New Year's Eve.
The director of the Hotel Sines Sea View, in Sines, Setúbal region, Pedro Santos, told Lusa that this year "there is more demand" for accommodation and meals, with an occupancy rate for Christmas "between 55% and 65%", although Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas Day lunch are "practically full".
As for New Year's Eve, with a party that includes cocktails, entertainment, dinner, open bar and supper, the hotel is "fully booked for dinner" and expects to "reach 70 to 80% occupancy," he added.
As for the Hotel Sever Rio, in the village of Portagem, municipality of Marvão, district of Portalegre, it will be closed on Christmas Eve, but New Year's Eve promises to be “sold out”, with the majority of guests being Portuguese, a source from that hotel told Lusa.
With 30,000 beds and recording "a growth rate of around 4% to 5%", the Alentejo saw two new hotels open this year, one in Elvas, in the Portalegre region, and another in Viana do Alentejo, in the Évora region, and a third may open in Ourique, in the Beja region, very soon, highlighted the president of the regional tourist authority.
"The destination is growing and, in the next 16 months, there will be a very significant boost, with many projects in the final stages of construction on the Alentejo coast and also some new hotel projects in Évora," said José Manuel Santos.
More than half of the tourist beds in the region are in four- and five-star hotels, while "three-, two- and one-star accommodation has been losing relative importance," he said, adding that "rural tourism also has a large share" in the Alentejo region.
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Lusa
