Last year, when prices for stays increased, the tourism sector in Portugal brought in revenues of 25 billion euros, 37.5% more than before the pandemic.
With the end of the pandemic, Portuguese tourism has regained momentum and has just closed 2023 breaking “records in several indicators”. In a year in which the prices of stays rose, tourism brought in revenues of 25 billion euros, 37.5% more than in 2019 and 18.5% more than the previous year, announced the Secretary of State for Tourism, Trade and Services, Nuno Fazenda.
In 2023, hotels and accommodation units registered nearly 30 million guests, 10% more than in 2019, and 77 million overnight stays. “It’s the best year ever in the history of tourism,” said the minister during the presentation of Turismo de Portugal’s new campaign, stressing that these are “very positive figures for the country”.
According to the minister, this growth is happening “in all regions of the country, especially in the North, Centre and Alentejo, and in every month” of 2023, which reveals a “structural change” in the sector, and which is above the forecasts of the World Tourism Organization, which pointed to a recovery in the sector of between 85 and 90%. “Portugal has already surpassed that,” said the Secretary of State, who stressed that the country “has been at the forefront of growth worldwide”.
In addition to these indicators, the sector already accounts for 18% of total service exports. “Tourism is much more than hotels and restaurants. It generates employment in various areas that feed the sector,” added the Secretary of State, believing that in 2024, even with the uncertainty caused by two ongoing wars and the general rise in prices, Portuguese tourism will continue to grow. “We’re going to have a good tourism year and we’re going to grow even more than in 2023,” predicts Nuno Fazenda, based on the “confidence” he has in the sector’s entrepreneurs and the “best ever” attendance at world fairs, such as the World Travel Market in London. However, in a statement to journalists, he did not say whether the sector’s growth would be in the double digits.
In terms of markets, Nuno Fazenda says that the United Kingdom, France and Germany continue to be the main destinations. But in 2023 there was “exceptional growth in the USA”, stressing that in Lisbon the Americans are already “the number one source market”.