Local Accommodation contributed greatly to the increase in the supply of beds in the municipality in 2023. The number of new establishments licensed last year exceeded two dozen, placing a hundred new beds on the market, which certainly welcomed a good portion of tourists who sought out the municipality of Caminha, breaking all records. All indicators that are becoming known point to continuous and sustained growth in tourism in the municipality, boosting the local economy. The month of December also ended with 361 unemployed people registered with the IEFP – Institute of Employment and Professional Training, a far cry from the more than 1000 people who found themselves in the same situation in December 2014.
Local accommodation establishments (AL) “are those that provide temporary accommodation services, particularly to tourists, for remuneration as long as they do not meet the requirements to be considered tourist developments”, according to the official definition. According to Tourism of Portugal records, a total of 21 new establishments were licensed in the municipality of Caminha in 2023, including rooms (two cases), houses (6), apartments (11) and accommodation establishments (2). Altogether they provide a hundred beds, distributed throughout the municipality.
Records also point to extraordinary growth in relation to licensed AL compared to 2022 (13), while the supply of beds grew by more than 100% (40 in 2022).
Looking at the last five years, there was a decrease in beds and AL licensed in 2020 and 2021, years of pandemic. In both cases, the values decreased compared to 2019, reversing the growth trend (10 new AL licensed and 40 new beds in 2019).
Everything leads us to believe that the recovery is here and in strength, overcoming the constraints imposed by the pandemic, which in the municipality and in the world in general, compromised development. With the year 2024 still at the beginning, to date, seven new AL licensing have already been recorded. This trend corresponds to investment in units, at all levels.
Tourism, across several businesses, is boosting the local economy, with repercussions also, most likely, in relation to the number of unemployed people registered with the IEFP, as we mentioned, 361 in December 2023, of which only 15 are looking for a new job and 238 have been in this situation for less than a year.
Remember that, according to statistics from INE – National Institute of Statistics, the number of guests in tourist accommodation establishments in Caminha, in 2023, broke all records and was 73,508. Among the 10 municipalities of Alto Minho , only Viana do Castelo surpassed that figure, with Ponte de Lima behind Caminha, with 63,648 guests recorded.
In the same sense, INE data reveal that the number of overnight stays in tourist accommodation establishments last year, in our municipality, rose to 119,507, only exceeded, among the 10 municipalities of Alto Minho, by Ponte de Lima and Viana do Castelo, municipalities of a much larger size.
