Azores Situation Report Wednesday 2nd July 2025
Overnight stays in tourist accommodation in the Azores increased by 3.1% in May
The Azores recorded more than 444.8 thousand overnight stays in tourist accommodation in May, an increase of 3.1% compared to the same period last year, according to data revealed today by the Regional Statistics Service (SREA).
“In May, 444.8 thousand overnight stays were recorded in all tourist accommodation establishments (hotels, local accommodation and rural tourism) in the Azores, a figure 3.1% higher than that recorded in the same month of the previous year”, reads the SREA Tourism Activity report, released today.
According to the document, the increase is higher than that recorded at national level (1.3%).
In the first five months of the year, the Azores exceeded one million overnight stays in tourist accommodation (1.4 million), an increase of 7.3% compared to the same period last year.
In May, the region recorded 136.5 thousand guests (up 5.2%), with an average stay of 3.26 nights, which increased by 2% year-on-year.
Residents abroad accounted for more than half of overnight stays in May (70.6%), totalling 313.9 thousand, 5.2% more than in the same period last year.
With 130.9 thousand overnight stays (29.4%), the national market registered a drop of 5.8%.
Cory’s shearwater is a bioindicator of marine pollution in the Atlantic, as proposed by Portugal
A proposal presented by Portugal for the adoption of the Cory’s Shearwater as a common bioindicator of floating plastic pollution in Region V of OSPAR (Wider Atlantic) was approved, in an initiative led by the Government of the Azores.
The new environmental indicator will allow the evaluation of the quantity, composition and temporal evolution of plastic ingested by juvenile shearwaters found dead during the period when they leave their nests.
This species, abundant in Macaronesia, appears as an alternative to the Arctic fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis), used in other OSPAR regions, but absent in the southernmost latitudes, the Azorean executive added.
On the Regional Government’s website, it is stated that the Cory’s Shearwater “belongs to a group formed by several species of seabirds (Procellariiformes) that includes albatrosses, shearwaters (…) and storm-petrels. (…) The Cory’s Shearwater is the most characteristic seabird of the Azores and one of the oldest on the planet. Cory’s Shearwaters spend a large part of their lives at sea (pelagic birds), coming ashore only when it is time to breed, to build their nests, mate, incubate their eggs and care for their young.”
This is a proposal presented by Portugal for the adoption of the Cory’s Shearwater (Calonectris borealis) as a common bioindicator of floating plastic pollution in Region V (Greater Atlantic).
It is led by the Regional Government of the Azores, through the Regional Secretariat for the Sea and Fisheries – Regional Directorate for Maritime Policies, with scientific support developed by Yasmina Rodríguez and Christopher Pham, researchers at the OKEANOS Institute for Marine Sciences Research (University of the Azores) and is the result of a monitoring program initiated in 2015, within the scope of the internationally recognized “SOS Cagarro” citizen science campaign.
In addition to the Cory’s Shearwater as a bioindicator, an environmental assessment threshold was also approved: a maximum of 20% of the birds analysed must contain more than four plastic particles in their stomachs, based on a minimum sample of 200 juvenile birds collected over five consecutive years.
It is now expected that the ministerial meeting will reaffirm the political commitment to the implementation of this new indicator, reinforcing regional collaboration and contributing to the objectives of the Environmental Strategy for the Northeast Atlantic 2030 (NEAES 2030)”.