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In 2010 the Alentejo
recorded its best ever year for tourism, smashing its previous ‘best ever’
record which was documented the year before, in 2009, with a rise of 6.7
percent in nights spent in the region.
Despite the ongoing worldwide economic
crisis, last year the Alentejo registered its best results to date in terms of
the amount of people spending a night in that region.

“These two years in
which we have achieved our best tourist results ever were years of
international and national economic crisis, but nonetheless, the Alentejo had
this result”, said António Ceia da Silva, head of the Alentejo Regional Tourism
Entity (ERT).
Data from the National
Statistics Institute (INE) showed that, in 2010, the number of nights spent by
tourists in regional hotel accommodation grew by 6.7 percent in relation to the
year before, to a total of 1.179 million overnight stays.

The INE further showed
that, last December, the Alentejo was the Portuguese region that registered the
highest number of overnight stays, with an increase of 9.4 percent on December
2009, to a total of 65,100 stays.
In terms of revenue,
the region documented a total growth of five percent.
These results were
described by the head of the ERT as “unprecedented” and as “having the best
year ever, for two consecutive years, very important for the region’s tourism
and for the affirmation of the region as a destination of quality and
excellence”.

Ceia da Silva also
praised the work done by regional businesses and town halls.
He highlighted that
the Alentejo registered the second biggest growth in the country, after Lisbon. In his
opinion the results are a clear sign that the efforts being made by the tourism
board in promoting the region are paying off. But, he stressed, “We will not
rest because of the results. We are conscious that we must fight to maintain
the results that we have achieved the past two years, which will be difficult.”

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