Speaking to Lusa, the president of ERT for Alentejo and Ribatejo, José Manuel Santos, revealed that “reservations are growing at a good pace” in Alentejo hotel units.

“There is still some time to go until Easter and the Lisbon Metropolitan Area market, which is our main source of domestic tourism, due to its proximity to a large part of Alentejo, reacts more at the last minute”, he highlighted.

Still, according to the person in charge, “the outlook is good” for this period and hotels and other accommodation in the region already have, at this moment, “a good rate of reservations”, with an occupancy rate “above 50%”.

This data refers to “the entire Alentejo destination, which is a third of Portugal”, he pointed out, stressing, on the other hand, that, in a sample of around 40 tourist units, “70% consider that Easter this year will be better than that of 2024”.

“The main groups with hotels in the region are experiencing good dynamics and reservations are growing, with the Portuguese and Spanish markets leading the way,” he reiterated, highlighting that “Easter is always a good period for the hotel industry, particularly in the Alentejo.”

Asked about estimates of tourist occupancy in Alentejo for Easter, José Manuel Santos said it was “still early” for that type of forecast and, at the same time, risky, as it is “a large and heterogeneous destination”.

“We are confident that, once again, the Portuguese and Spanish will give a good Easter” to Alentejo and also to Ribatejo, he said, expressing the hope that the weather conditions will help, as they also have “importance in the decision factor”.

Recalling that this year Easter is celebrated later than usual, with Good Friday on April 18, the ERT president acknowledged that, for some tourists, weather conditions have “significant importance”.

“We had hotels in Évora, last weekend, that, until Thursday, had an occupancy of 30% to 40% and ended up with more than 70%, in some cases, when it was realized that we would have sun and good temperatures”, he exemplified.

According to the person in charge, the region's hotel units are “also having a good level of reservations” for the weekends following Easter, namely those preceded by the April 25th and May 1st holidays.

“So, a good outlook for tourism in the region over the next four or five weekends,” he added.