Portugal received 27 million tourists last year, 7.3% more than in 2018. The overnight stays have also increased (4,1%, what equals 69,9 million).

According to TravelBI, 10,7 million guests were portuguese and 16,3 million were foreigners. The site reveals the growth of the number of guests from U.S.A. (+20,2%), Brazil (+13,5%) e Ireland (+9,7%). But most of the tourists keep coming from the United Kingdom, with a total of 9.38 million people, rising 1.5% compared to 2018.

The results also show more significant increment in the North (+9.7% in overnight stays), the Alentejo (+7.6%) and the Azores (+7.5%).
Hotels continue to lead the choice, concentrating around 58 million stays, ahead of local accommodation with 10 million stays. Rural tourism counted with 1.0 million overnight stays. When it comes to growth, hostels stood out with overnight stays skyrocketing 23.5%.

Tourism revenues increased  7.3% to 4.28 billion euros.

“Tourism in Portugal continues to at a much higher pace than the international average. The results also show a clear trend of market diversification, with exponential growth in visitors from the U.S.,” Rita Marques, Secretary of State for Tourism said.”

Rita Marques added that Portugal is still showing sustainable growth due to the “continued reduction of seasonality, while the tourism sector consolidates the position of the largest exporting activity in the country.”

Sources: Publituris, INE, Travel BI