Portugal surpassed pre-pandemic tourism figures during the first seven months of the year, reaching all-time high tourism revenue and record-breaking levels of overnight stays compared to 2019.

“These are the best seven months ever in Portugal’s tourism history,” according to Portugal’s Secretary of State for Tourism, Nuno Fazenda. 

The most recent data from the country’s National Institute of Statistics (INE) shows that between January and July 2023, Portugal welcomed 16.8 million tourists. During the seven months, there were a total of 42.8 million overnight stays, representing a 10% rise over the same timeframe in 2019. 

The INE data also shows that income generated from tourism hit €3.2 billion, marking a 39% increase over 2019. 

Furthermore, in July, the average revenue per occupied room reached €137.90. Schengen Visa Info reports a rise of close to 10% and a new all-time high, exceeding August last year, which stood at €136. 

Based on this data, the revenue generated from overnight stays at all the country’s hotel facilities registered a significant increase, totalling 41.8%. 

This indicates a full recovery of Portugal’s tourism sector following the pandemic, Fazenda stated, adding that this industry demonstrates “excellence” and “resilience.”

In addition, during the first seven months of the year, around 8.2 million foreign visitors stayed in Portugal’s hotels, a considerable rise over last year when 6.3 million were registered. This figure also exceeded the 7.4 million from the first half of 2019, which was a record year for tourism before the pandemic hit.

The National Institute of Statistics also noted that tourism accounted for almost 15% of Portugal’s GDP before the Covid outbreak.

Moreover, in terms of demographics during the first half of the year, the majority of arrivals to Portugal were from the UK, exceeding one million. This was followed by visitors from Spain and the US.