Clem Walshe and Grainne Caffrey of Lowcostbeds and Celina Tavares and Hugo Nascimento of the Portugal National Tourist Office and Algarve Promotion Bureau were the excellent hosts for their main agents at One Pico on Thursday 28th May.
Clem thanked the agents for their continuing support in 2014 and looked forward to the remainder of 2015 with confidence. He reported that 50% of Lowcostbeds’ business came from its own stock and expected that expansion for the rest of 2015 would come from city breaks and long-haul.
The Algarve continues to contribute 17% of Irish sales and increased 20% year-on-year.
Hugo Nascimento of the Algarve Promotion Bureau stressed that Irish business continues to be a major contributor to the Portuguese economy and the emphasis was now on expanding the product offer outside the usual hotel, beach and golf to more of exploring the countryside and green product. Ireland is the fifth largest market to Portugal and January / February 2015 visitors increased by 21%.
