Albufeira Creates Some Buzz In Toronto

A hundred travel agents, tour operators, and other industry professionals gathered in downtown Toronto last night to explore the Albufeira region of Portugal.

Visit Portugal was joined by 17 suppliers from APAR, the agency for the promotion of the Albufeira region. Attendees were invited to meet individually with suppliers to understand products like luxury hotels, self-catering apartments, golf courses, tour companies, and DMCs better.

“We wanted to create some buzz about Albufeira with Canadians as the weather starts to turn,” explained William Delgado, Country Manager, Tourism Portugal. “It’s time for Canadians to start thinking about winter vacations, and we hope they think about Portugal in general and Albufeira in particular.”

With 300 days of sunshine, hundreds of beaches, and some of the best golf courses in the world,  it’s no wonder this region continues to be one of Portugal’s most important tourism regions and a strong market for Canadian travellers.

NAU Hotels and Resorts, one of the suppliers on hand, with 8 hotels and 3 golf courses in the region, was visiting Canada for the third time to try and grow their Canadian market. “Today we have Air Transat and SATA promoting our destination, so I believe the Canadian market will increase in the region,” said Alexandra Samoes, Contract Manager, NAU Hotels and Resorts.

“The region still offers good value for money, lots of sunshine, and several self catering options with Canadians love for longer stays.”

Overall, the Canadian market to Portugal continues to do very well. As Delgado explains, “there has been year-over-year growth in the last 3 to 4 years, our numbers of unique Canadian visitors has more than doubled, and we’re almost at 400,000 which is about 20% more than last year at this time.”

This mini roadshow continues on to Montreal in two days time.