“In May, all tourist accommodation establishments (hotels, local accommodation and rural tourism) in the Azores recorded 444.8 thousand overnight stays, a figure 3.1% higher than that recorded in the same month last year”, reads the SREA Tourism Activity report.

According to the document, the increase is greater than that recorded nationally (1.3%).

During the first five months of the year, the Azores exceeded one million overnight stays in tourist accommodation (1.4 million), an increase of 7.3% compared to the same period last year.

In May, the region recorded 136.5 thousand guests (up 5.2%), with an average stay of 3.26 nights, which increased by 2% year-on-year.

Residents abroad accounted for more than half of the overnight stays in May (70.6%), totalling 313.9 thousand, 5.2% more than in the same period last year.

With 130.9 thousand overnight stays (29.4%), the domestic market recorded a drop of 5.8%.

Among the foreign markets, the United States of America was the largest source market this month, with 52.4 thousand overnight stays (16.7% of overnight stays by residents abroad), which represents an annual increase of 11.9%.

In second place is Germany, with 51.1 thousand overnight stays (16.3%), 1.1% more, and in third place is Spain, with 29.8 thousand overnight stays (9.5%), 1.2% more.

Israel (42.4%), Poland (40.0%) and Canada (31.7%) were the markets with the highest year-on-year growth.

On the other hand, Belgium (-20.8%), Brazil (-14.7%) and the Netherlands (-10.8%) showed the biggest drops.

With 235.9 thousand overnight stays, the hotel industry accounted for 53% of the total in May, followed by vacation rentals with 188.2 thousand overnight stays (42.3%) and rural tourism with 20.7 thousand overnight stays (4.7%).

Rural tourism recorded the highest annual growth (15.2%), followed by hotels (3%) and local accommodation (2.1%).

Considering only hotels and local accommodation, which accounted for 95.3% of overnight stays, only two islands recorded an annual reduction in the number of overnight stays in May: Santa Maria (-7.7%) and Corvo (-0.7%).

Graciosa was the island that saw the greatest increase in the number of overnight stays this month (28.1%), followed by São Jorge (10.8%), Flores (5%) and São Miguel (3%).

Terceira saw an increase of 1.6%, while Pico and Faial showed a slight fluctuation of 0.1%.

The island of São Miguel, the largest in the archipelago, accounted for 70.9% of overnight stays in hotels and local accommodation (300.6 thousand) in May, followed by Terceira, with 49.5 thousand overnight stays (11.7%), Faial, with 25.9 thousand overnight stays (6.1%) and Pico, with 23.9 thousand overnight stays (5.6%).