Portugal Breaks Foreign Tourist Arrival Record

The record number of international tourists who visited Portugal in the first half of the year is further proof of Europe's robust tourism revival this year.

Official figures released earlier this week indicated that the first half of 2023 was the strongest first half on record for tourism in Portugal, with over eight million international visitors.

About 8.2 million international guests lodged in Portuguese hotels during this time, according to the National Statistics Institute. This is an increase from 6.3 million in the same period a year earlier and 7.4 million in the first half of 2019, a record year for the industry until the COVID-19 crisis decimated worldwide tourism in 2020. Before the outbreak, tourism was responsible for roughly 15% of Portugal's Gross Domestic Product.

Over a million British tourists dominated the first half of arrivals, followed by over a million Spaniards and over a million Americans. In June, American tourists made up the second biggest group of international visitors to Portugal, behind those from France.

According to the INE, hotels in the country welcomed 13.6 million visitors (both international and domestic) in the first six months of the year, driving overall hotel revenues up 32% year-over-year to 2.5 billion euros.

Separately, the INE stated that the number of people using Portuguese airports in the first half of the year increased by about 30% compared to the same period in 2022 and by 12% contrasting the same period in 2019.

Moreover, IATA reported that foreign tourism is back up to almost 90% of pre-pandemic levels this year, driven mostly by an increase in travellers to Southern Europe.

 

Source: skift.com