February became the fifth consecutive month of decline, according to data released by the Regional Statistics Service (SREA).

“In January, all tourist accommodation establishments (hotels, local accommodation, and rural tourism) in the Azores registered 121,200 overnight stays, a figure 9.9% lower than that recorded in the same month last year,” reads the SREA's Tourism Activity report.

Since September, the number of overnight stays in tourist accommodations in the region has been lower than that recorded in the same period last year.

In September, the reduction was 1.2%; in October, 2%; in November, 6.8%; and in December, 5.1%.

In the first month of the year, the Azores recorded 44,300 guests (down 9.8%), with an average stay of 2.73 nights (down 0.1%). According to SREA, the decrease in overnight stays in the archipelago in January contradicts the national average, which showed a 2% increase.

Of the more than 121,000 overnight stays registered in the Azores this month, 66,600 (55%) were from domestic tourists and 54,600 (45%) from foreign tourists.

In both cases, there was a decrease compared to the same period last year, although it was more pronounced in the foreign market (15.7%) than in the domestic market (4.5%).

Foreign markets

Among foreign markets, Germany was the largest source market, with 10,500 overnight stays (19.3% of overnight stays by foreign residents), a 12.2% decrease compared to January 2025.

In second place are the United States of America, with 7,400 overnight stays (13.5%), showing a 28.9% reduction, and in third place is Canada, with 6,100 overnight stays (11.3%) and a 1.1% decrease.

Poland (14.9%), Austria (8.1%) and Switzerland (5.9%) were the markets with the highest year-on-year growth, while Slovakia (-49%), Israel (-35.5%) and Spain (-30.2%) showed the largest declines.

Types of accommodation

With 77,900 overnight stays, hotels accounted for 64.3% of tourist overnight stays in the archipelago in January, followed by local accommodation, with 39,400 overnight stays (32.5%), and rural tourism, with 3,800 overnight stays (3.2%).

Hotels were also the type of accommodation that showed the smallest decline compared to the same period last year (-3.8%), followed by local accommodation (-18.9%) and rural tourism (-20.5%).

Data by island

Considering only hotels and local accommodation, which accounted for 96.8% of overnight stays in January, only three of the nine islands in the archipelago saw a positive year-on-year change: São Jorge (19.2%), Santa Maria (18.2%), and Graciosa (12.3%).

Pico had the largest decrease (-16.6%), followed by São Miguel (-11.2%), Corvo (-9.9%), Terceira (-6.5%), Flores (-5.5%), and Faial (-3.1%).

The island of São Miguel, the largest in the archipelago, accounted for 70.8% of overnight stays in hotels and local accommodation (83,100) this month, followed by Terceira with 20,100 overnight stays (17.1%), Faial with 6,200 overnight stays (5.3%), and Pico with 3,400 overnight stays (2.9%).

With the exception of São Miguel, the domestic market had the greatest weight in overnight stays on all the islands, being most significant in Santa Maria (87.4%), Graciosa (85.7%) and Terceira (76.1%).

Foreign market by island

Among the foreign markets, the German market had the greatest weight in São Miguel (10.5%), Flores (7.7%) and Pico (7.4%), while the Spanish market stood out in Corvo (9.6%).

In the islands of Graciosa (8.4%), Faial (5.4%) and Santa Maria (3.2%), the North American market was the main foreign market; in São Jorge, the Canadian market (5.4%); and in Terceira, the British market (4.3%).

Bed occupancy

In the hotel sector, the net bed occupancy rate fell to 20.8% in January (down 1.7 percentage points), while total revenue rose 1.3% to €5 million.

Rural tourism showed a net bed occupancy rate of 13.6% (down 0.2 percentage points) and total revenue of €441,400 (down 9.1%).

For local accommodation, no revenue data is presented, but the gross bed occupancy rate was 16.8% (down 2 percentage points).

According to the report, 70.4% of active local accommodation establishments reported no guest movement in January (an increase of 5.3 percentage points).