Effects of ´Brexit´ begin to knock on the door of the Algarve.

Alert: The main flow of tourists to the region is already in decline. The Brexit effect, voted by the majority of Britons in June last year and which decided for the departure of the UK from the European Union, is already its negative reflects on the hotel occupancy rate in the Algarve.

The Algarve is no longer a cheap destination for the British and this is beginning to be reflected in hotel occupancy rates.

In a statement to Jornal do Algarve, the president of AHETA, Elidérico Viegas, criticizes the lack of measures of the Government, "all the more that the predictable fall of the demand of English tourists was a certainty". According to the latest data from the Association of Hotels and Tourist Enterprises of the Algarve (AHETA), the British market fell by 12.6% in July this year, compared to the same month last year. Incidentally, UK official statistics confirm a reduction in the number of Brits traveling abroad (-4.6% in May), "a trend that is expected to intensify in the near future," fears AHETA. These are therefore the first signs that the lives of the British are tightening.

And Algarve tourism is beginning to feel the same, since the United Kingdom is the main market for tourists in the region, accounting for almost half of overnight stays in official Algarve accommodation. Speaking to Jornal do Algarve this week, the president of AHETA, Elidérico Viegas, says that this is a very worrying situation, but already foreseen. "It is not understood, by the way, that our people continue to deny this evidence, especially since the predicted fall in demand for English tourists was a certainty," he says.