Lisbon has already started hosting the 70,000 participants this weekend who will fill a new edition of the Web Summit in the coming days. But it’s not just the FIL pavilions that will fill up, hotels and local accommodations in the capital register maximum occupancy for the days of the technology summit, which will take place between November 1 and 4.
Due to high demand, Local Accommodation (AL) prices for these dates shot up by 80% compared to the previous month, GuestReady reveals. The LA management company explains that there are apartments that cost more than 500 euros per night. The Baixa and Parque das Nações areas are the most expensive and where daily rates have increased the most. “During the Web Summit, the demand is always high, but this year it was noticed that the occupancy rate grew very fast and much earlier than usual and consequently there was a price evolution in that sense,” he explains to DN/Dinheiro Vivo the director of GuestReady in Portugal and Spain, Rui Silva
The head of the company that manages more than 1,000 properties in the country adds that the entire offer has sold out and that the French, Germans and English are responsible for most of the reservations. The Spaniards and Americans round out the top five key markets to flock to the capital for the technology summit.
The Web Summit’s impact on the country’s tourism extends beyond the dates of the event and beyond the borders of the capital, explains the Associação do Alojamento Local em Portugal (ALEP).
“After the impact on Lisbon, there is an increase in demand in other regions, such as Porto or Costa da Caparica for example,” says the president of the association. Eduardo Miranda adds that AL is responsible for hosting 50% of the guests at the Web Summit and calls for conditions to be created in the city for the development of the activity. At a time when new AL registrations are suspended in 15 of the 24 parishes, the Lisbon chamber last week approved a PS motion proposing to change the AL regime so that permits have a time limit. Eduardo Miranda speaks of ignorance about the touristic reality of the city.
“This measure is the ignorance of the reality of tourism that leads to the presentation of proposals that have catastrophic results. Such a proposal means that the Web Summit has to go to another side. Without the AL it is impossible, there is no Web Summit , nor Eurovision and other major events such as medical congresses. Before making proposals without thinking, it is important to know the reality,” asks the president of the association.
hotels sold out
Traditional hospitality will also run out in the coming days. Next week there will be hotels sold out, such as Dom Pedro Lisboa. The five-stars received the first bookings for Web Summit in April, and prices were up 20% from pre-pandemic.
“There has been an increase in demand as a result of the event, as well as an increase in the average prices in the city, which together maximize occupancy and the average price of the room sold. But as the demand for the data was higher, we have we reached higher prices faster,” confirms the hotel’s sales director, Pedro Ribeiro. Brazilians, Americans and Portuguese are the main markets for the coming week.
The three hotels in Lisbon of the Stay Hotels group are also sold out. “Events such as the Web Summit are a great opportunity for the hospitality industry and contribute to the growth of activity levels comparable to those of the peak season, especially in the capital, as they have a major impact on the demand for our hotels,” explains the hotel chain. from.
The Associação da Hotelaria de Portugal (AHP) foresees an optimistic scenario for the accounts of hotel companies in the coming week and confirms a general increase in the rates charged. “It is expected that there will be a major impact on hotels in Lisbon, but also in the whole region. In terms of prices, the increase is already a reality, also due to the increase in costs related to inflation, energy, goods and services, salaries, commodities, etc. Even during the pandemic, the price remained stable, so the average price per occupied room is expected to be effectively higher than in 2019,” said AHP executive vice president Cristina Siza Vieira.
In 2019, the technology summit generated an economic impact of EUR 72 million and a tax impact of EUR 24.9 million in the country and in that year, the hotel industry in the city of Lisbon registered an occupancy rate of 94%, according to AHP data, with hotels in the metropolitan region that reached 90%.
Conference participants spent an average of three million euros per day in hotels in Lisbon, about 12 million euros in the four days of the event and given the price increase, these numbers are expected to grow in the 2022 edition.
“After two particularly difficult years for Portuguese hotels and world tourism, in a year now marked by the social and economic impact of the war, events like this are an opportunity to meet again, a breath of fresh air. And of course, they wear help confirm it, as everything indicates, as a great year for Portuguese tourism,” concludes Cristina Siza Vieira.
Rute Simão is a journalist for DInheiro Vivo
Source: DN
