Treasure in the Algarve

The Algarve has long been a draw for people from the UK. Clearly there is something in the Algarve that attracts your average Brit.

The natural beauty there is clearly enough to stop anyone concentrating on their day job.

It reminds me of the words of that long ago song "Echo Beach" by Martha and the Muffins.

"The only think that helps me pass the time away
Is knowing that I'll be back at Echo Beach some day"
Tourism figures for the Algarve are holding their own in what is elsewhere a falling market. The only other market that we have seen with stable figures was Dubai.
The question that arises is, can these figures be trusted? Most countries use some kind of public entity to track tourism figures and the problem with this, like with all public systems, is what criteria they apply.
In Spain for many years the National Institute for Statistics used the level of Hotel Occupation as a measure of tourism. This led them to believe that there was an increasing crisis as time went on. They then discovered that traffic through Spanish airports was UP while numbers in hotels were going down.

What was happenning? It was the advent of the so called Residential Tourism market. People would fly out on holiday, stay in a hotel and purchase an apartment. The next time they came out they would stay in their apartment so the hotel numbers would fall. Simple. So how do we track it best? Surely airport numbers are the best indication?
In the Algarve they decided to use the traffic through Faro as an indicator. However, is this reliable? Anyone who has flown into Faro will notice a large number of Spanish people on the plane. They are clearly using Faro to then go into Spain. It would also be fair to assume that other nationalities on the plane might be going to Spain too.
So, what do we measure now? Well, we can carry out surveys at the airport. Find out where the passengers are going. But the fact remains, that it is difficult to measure exactly how The Algarve is doing with regards to tourism. Our feeling is that, as it has never been the mass market that Spain was, it has probably not suffered as much.
Let's hope The Algarve remains strong as it does have some of Europe's best beaches, friendly people and some of the best food in the world!