Short-term Rentals in the Algarve: Reshaping the Tourism Landscape

Cláudia Ribeiro Almeida and Andrei Bezruchonak
Additional contact information
Cláudia Ribeiro Almeida: University of the Algarve, School of Management, Hospitality and Tourism, Faro, Portugal
Andrei Bezruchonak: Belarusian State University, Faculty of Geography and Geoinformatics, Minsk, Belarus

Journal of Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being, 2026, vol. 14, issue 2, 89-110

Abstract: This study examines how short-term rentals are reshaping tourism and housing in the Algarve, Portugal’s most tourism-dependent and highly seasonal non-metropolitan region. Using municipal data from the National Registry of Tourism, TravelBI, and Eurostat overnight stays, and Idealista housing prices, we combine Tourist Intensity and Tourist Density with sale and rental price indicators to identify municipalities facing the highest tourism–housing pressures. Results show a pronounced coastal concentration of short-term rentals, particularly in Albufeira, Loulé, Lagos, and Portimão, municipalities which also hold most of the region’s formal accommodation capacity, while inland municipalities remain marginal. The highest-intensity and highest-density destinations record the steepest in creases in sales and rental prices. Apartments dominate both formal accommodation and short-term rentals in these municipalities, intensifying competition for residential housing. The findings highlight the need to integrate short term rentals into coherent accommodation, housing, and land-use governance. Targeted measures are required in saturated coastal municipalities to manage seasonal peaks and housing stress, while inland areas offer opportunities for carefully managed diversification supported by investment and governance capacity. Conceptually, the study reframes short-term rentals in tourism-dependent regions as mechanisms of cumulative saturation that intensify pre-existing tourism and housing pressures rather than redistributing them spatially.

Keywords: Short-term Rentals; Tourism Governance; Housing Pressure; Platform Economy; Tourist Intensity; Tourist Density (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: R14 R31 Z32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cieo.pt/journal/J_2_2026/article2.pdf

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:jspord:023046

DOI: 10.34623/bcp7-pr49

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being is currently edited by Patrícia Pinto

More articles in Journal of Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being from CinTurs - Research Centre for Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being, University of Algarve University of Algarve, Faculty of Economics, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal, Coordinator of the Centre: Prof. Manuela Guerreiro, E-mail: mmguerre@ualg.pt. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Silvia Fernandes ().