Lusa - Business News - Portugal: Azores businesses want urgent action to mitigate seasonal tourism

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Lusa - Business News - Portugal: Azores businesses want urgent action to mitigate seasonal tourism

Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal, March.27,2024(Lusa) - The Ponta Delgada Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday called for an immediate action plan in the face of "a regression of many years" in the fight against seasonal tourism in the Azores, with "six months of negative results expected".
The position of the board of directors and the specialist tourism committee of the Ponta Delgada Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the business association for the islands of São Miguel and Santa Maria, follows a meeting held on Tuesday to analyse and discuss the current situation in the sector.
According to the committee on tourism, the reduction of flights by the low-cost airline Ryanair to the archipelago from 1 October 2023 "is a step backwards" in the model of accessibility to the Autonomous Region of the Azores.
Worsening seasonality has led to "a reduction in demand for the destination, as the occupancy rate in the Azores fell by 6.7 % in January 2024 and the average revenue per available room (RevPAR) also fell by 6.3% (the highest drop in the country), with the Azores ranking 3rd among the regions with the worst RevPAR in Portugal", reads a statement.
While traditional hotels "suffered less impact" from the reduction in Ryanair flights, with some compensation made by the airline SATA, the business association warns that in the case of short-term accommodation rental, catering, rent-a-car, entertainment and other tourist activities there were "decreases" which in some cases "exceeded 40%".
The Chamber of Commerce is therefore concerned about the "setback that tourism is experiencing in the IATA 2023/24 winter", after the Azores had managed to position itself as "a differentiated destination" in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"The situation shows some signs of concern as the impact of recovery from the pandemic is no longer being felt in business," the business association said in a statement.
For the committee, despite a greater tourist offer and more investment, there has been a reduction in flight seats in recent months.
"This winter there has been a decrease of around 11 % in the number of seats on flights to the Portuguese mainland, which corresponds to around 50,000 seats that could have generated 150,000 overnight stays," it points out.
The committee on tourism recalls the sector's weight in the regional economy, both in terms of employment (accounting for around 25,000 direct and indirect jobs) and the regional GDP (around 12 %), as well as its contribution to the settlement of residents on the islands.
"If it hadn't been for the growth of tourism in the last decade, the demographic evolution of the Azores would have been much more negative than it has been, so it's not acceptable for the sector to have a real setback," it emphasises.
The "drastic reduction in flights operated by Ryanair in the IATA winter had a real impact on demand for the destination and, contrary to what was required, flights are not keeping up with the availability that exists in terms of tourist supply. The shortage of flights is blocking the tourism sector. Without flights there is no tourism," it warns.
In the note, the business association also refers to the "growing feeling of insecurity" in the city of Ponta Delgada, on São Miguel, calling for urgent intervention to be included by the various organisations, as well as in relation to the safety of hiking trails, proposing the use of equipment with a mechanism for locating tourists.
On the other hand, it adds, "tourism promotion is weak and lacks an effective and adequate plan to meet the challenges of the sector, which already generates around €600 million in GDP in the Azores, receiving less than a 1% reinvestment from the government in promotion".
The association also advocates a "moralisation and modernisation" of the Social Mobility Allowance model.
With regard to the summer, the association speaks of good prospects for international market routes of "around 18% compared to the same period" in 2023, but warns that the prospects for domestic connections are "tenuous", with growth of "only 4% of the offer in the domestic market, which is not very encouraging considering its weight and potential".
APE/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa

Agency : LUSA
Date : 2024-03-28 11:30:00

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