Interest in Portugal leads Sagres Vacations to expand in California

“DOn this side we saw that there is a gap”, said the person in charge. “There are no companies like us that invest in a tailor-made product”, he added.

Based in Fall River, Massachusetts, Sagres Vacations creates personalized trips according to clients’ purposes, which can range from visiting Portugal to buy a house or do business, to company retreats and themed visits.

“More than luxury, we are destination specialists. Luxury for us is more about exclusivity and authenticity”, said Marco Fernandes.

This year, the company is preparing an itinerary dedicated to fado in Lisbon and in 2025 it intends to launch “A Portuguese Movie Journey with Pedro Carmo”, a program with the Portuguese actor that will allow you to see places portrayed in films such as “Comboio Noturno para Lisboa” and the recent “Fast and Furious X”.

“Selling Portugal is not just travel, it’s not just leisure”, said the person in charge. “It’s selling the destination and when people get there they love it and then they come back, they tell their family and they want to come back,” he explained.

To respond to the opportunity in California, Sagres Vacations is organizing events with agents interested in learning about Portugal and designing strategic partnerships, similar to what it did in New York with the O Valor do Tempo group, which owns O Mundo Fantástico da Sardinha Portuguese.

“We try to do events to ‘experience’ Portugal and we want to start doing them here”, he indicated. The first should be at the end of 2024.

Marco Fernandes said that one of the factors driving greater interest from the West Coast was the emergence of direct TAP flights between San Francisco and Lisbon, considering that the addition of Los Angeles as a departure city would also be beneficial. Around 90% of its customers are North Americans.

“What is growing the most at the moment are tailored programs and also the niche of organizations that want to do ‘team building’”, he indicated. “We have wine clubs that are taking an itinerary with us to the Douro and Alentejo. We have country clubs that are offering tours for golfers in the Azores and Algarve”, he explained.

Another factor is the perception of security in Portugal, at a time when the wars in Ukraine and Gaza complicate geopolitics. “When these things happen in the world, Portugal stands out as a safe destination”, stated the vice-president.

On the other hand, there is greater appreciation for Portuguese hospitality and the ease of communication in English. “I think this has helped a lot to grow”, said Marco Fernandes. “And then it’s networking: people come back and talk about Portugal,” he said.

With 35 people in three offices, one of them in Barcelona (the company also organizes trips to Spain), Sagres Vacations is focusing more on trips to the interior of Portugal, taking into account the saturation of Lisbon and Porto.

The official considers that, although Portugal is very fashionable and it is possible that this will change in the future, the country’s qualities as a tourism and investment destination will continue to be recognized.

“It will go a little out of fashion for a certain percentage of customers, but not for people looking for security, cost of living, climate, food, wine and family”, he stressed.

“It can go from position two to five but it won’t go beyond that, because it’s always a very attractive market”, he considered. “It’s out of trouble, it’s not France, it’s not England,” she concluded.