The Algarve, as an election tourist destination, both for Portuguese tourists, and increasingly for foreign tourists, continues the investment to try to improve infrastructure to receive travelers coming throughout the year. In this context, the Porto Bay hotel group announced ambitious plans for 2025, highlighting the growth and diversification of its tourist offer in Portugal, despite the challenges that are felt, especially in the capital. From these plans, the opening of the largest resort of the Algarve stands out.
The largest resort of the Algarve
In the Algarve, the highlight goes to the opening of a new hotel in Albufeira, the Blue Ocean, scheduled for July. With 350 rooms, this new unit will be linked to the existing Porto Bay Falésia, which has 310 rooms, thus forming a resort with a total of 660 rooms, thus becoming the largest in the Algarve.
According to António Trindade, president of the group, the expansion resulted from an agreement with the family owner of Porto Bay Falésia. Initially, the intention was to purchase the hotel, but, in the face of the refusal of the sale, a partnership was made, with Porto Bay with 50% of the ownership of both hotels and assuming its management, says.
The cost of the project
This investment, valued at about 130 million euros, is pointed out as the largest realized in Portugal in 2024. The two units, although interconnected, will have distinct proposals: Porto Bay Falésia focuses more on sports tourism, while Blue Ocean bets more on leisure.
But the Algarve is not the only destination to receive news. The group also advanced with the construction of the Old Town Funchal, a five-star boutique-hotel in the old zone of the Madeiran capital, reinforcing the presence of Porto Bay in the archipelago.
The notability of the year 2024
In terms of results, 2024 was a remarkable year for the group, which reached a bill of 129 million euros. Of these, 117 million came from their hotels in Portugal, located in Madeira, Lisbon, Porto and Algarve, while the rest originated in their units in Brazil.
The group’s EBITDA (operating profit) grew 16% by 2024, reaching 26 million euros. António Trindade highlighted the importance of these numbers and stressed that the great challenge for 2025 will be to overcome the results of the previous year.
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Good perspectives for the future
Perspectives for the future remain optimistic, albeit with challenges. In the Algarve, growth should continue, even with the requalification works that will maintain some partial units over 2025. The expectation is for a global growth of about 5% for this year.
In Madeira, the pace of growth is still quite solid, with predictions of even better results in 2025. However, in urban tourism, especially in Lisbon, the challenges are higher.
The barriers in the capital
One of the main obstacles identified is the capital’s air capacity, which António Trindade considers “exhausted”. The president of Porto Bay defends the need for adaptation of the sector to circumvent this limitation, suggesting measures such as increased average duration of the stays.
According to Trindade, if in Lisbon it is possible to increase the average stay of tourists from three to four days, this would result in 30%growth, better taking advantage of existing capacity. The duration of the stays is a factor that varies depending on destination. In Madeira, for example, the average is 10 days in winter and between 8 to 9 days in summer, values considerably higher than those registered in Lisbon.
The diversification tactic
Another factor pointed out as a differentiator is the bet on distinct hotel concepts and gastronomy, aspects that raise guest experience and contribute to attracting a more demanding audience. The tactic of diversification and improvement of hotel supply is a priority for Porto Bay, and Trindade does not fail to highlight the prestige that represents a restaurant with two Michelin stars in one of his hotels in Madeira.
With a strategy focused on quality, diversification and valorization of the customer experience, the Porto Bay group continues to consolidate its position as a reference in the national and international tourist panorama.
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