Portuguese elect Brazil, Cape Verde and Morocco to spend the ‘reveillon’
The Portuguese continue to elect Brazil, Cape Verde and Morocco, as well as the islands, Algarve, Lisbon and Porto for the passage of the year, with the number of reserves remaining at “slightly” higher prices, according to APAVT.
“The data we have – which have been delivered to us by the market – indicate a year-end at the level of the previous year,” said Pedro Costa Ferreira, president of the Portuguese Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies (APAVT).
Already in terms of destinations, reservations for the passage of the year show that “there are no surprises.”
“Let’s say that we have a consolidation of movements from previous years … We know that the Portuguese choose a lot of Portugal to spend the end of the year and of course Madeira, but also the Azores, Algarve, Lisbon and Porto are now good points of reference for the end of the year of the Portuguese issuing market, “he added.
For those who prefer to leave Portugal, “Brazil has a good sale this year, along with Cape Verde and Morocco. They are the main references”, and having special flights in all three cases, ie charter operations, explains still Pedro Costa Ferreira.
Asked whether, similarly to other years, there is an update of prices in the market, the APAVT president admits that “they will generally be slightly higher than last year.”
As for the offer, especially of charter operations available in the market, and considering that the level of reserves remains stable compared to last year, “the expectation is that they exhaust,” he says.
“In the end, we will certainly have all the special operations exhausted,” stressed Pedro Costa Ferreira.
The travel agency sector is expected to recover fully from the start of the crisis by the end of the year, with APAVT’s chairman expecting global turnover to grow 9 to 10 percent.
“The recent history of travel agencies is a record of growth. Travel agencies have grown in recent years more than the national economy, have grown more than tourism, have grown more than air travel, and this year despite all these new difficulties and normative atmospheres, we expect to end the year with a growth in leisure of about 10% and in the corporate segment we will not be far from 8% or 9% “, he added at the time .
However, today, regarding year-end reserves, he says that “what [tour operators] talk about is maintaining the reserves compared to last year.”
Faced with whether this may be an indicator that, as statistics have been showing relative to the number of guests and overnight stays in Portugal, domestic demand may also be slowing, it reads: “It may be an indicator of [… On the other hand, we can admit that the universe that makes the year-end reservations is a universe that if we compare it with the vacations of all the Portuguese throughout the year is a little bit more restricted and, so we must admit that it is a more stable universe. ”
In summary, Pedro Costa Ferreira explains, the maintenance of demand at the end of this year “is not incompatible” with a “growth of the leisure market” next year, but in fact, “it may happen that here is another one reference to a slowdown in demand and a slowdown in the demand for leisure by the Portuguese. “
