The Algarve maintains its outstanding leadership as the largest Portuguese tourist region, having been responsible for 33,1% (about a third) of overnight stays by tourists last July.
According to quick estimates released by the National Statistics Institute (INE) and the Bank of Portugal (BdP), July was the best month ever in terms of the number of guests and overnight stays in our country.
Followed by the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (22,7%), the North (15,6%), the Autonomous Region of Madeira (10,5%) and the Center with 10,0%.
In percentage terms, the most significant increases are in Madeira (+21,0%), in the North (+14,9%) and in the Center (+10,6%).
The Ministry of Economy and the Sea, in a statement sent to the newsrooms, points out that “the estimate points to 3.029,1 thousand guests and 8.628,4 thousand overnight stays in the total of tourist accommodation last July, when in July 2021 there were 1.633,8, 85,4 thousand guests (+4.538,6%) and 90,1 thousand overnight stays (+XNUMX%)».
Compared to July 2019, pre-pandemic month, the evolution at national level is 6,3% more for guests (+179,8 thousand guests) and 4,8% more for overnight stays (+397,2 thousand overnight stays) .
«The forecast also states that 2.906 thousand overnight stays will be from residents (2.663,9 thousand in July 2021, that is, +9,1%) and that 5.722,4 thousand will be from non-residents. Which translates to a year-on-year growth of 205,2% (1.874,8 thousand in July 2021)”, summarizes the note from the Ministry of Economy.
The share of overnight stays from non-residents, which was 41,3% in July 2021, now stands at 66,3%, restoring the natural structure of the Portuguese tourist market.
In terms of the main markets, the estimate indicates that all will evolve positively and that their share of total overnight stays from non-residents will be 87,6%.
The British market predominates and has a share of 19% of overnight stays from non residents and an increase of 1,0% compared to July 2019, with the Spanish market also standing out (share of 12,6% and an increase of 2,3, 7,6%) and the North American (share of 35,9% and +XNUMX% in overnight stays).
In accumulated terms, until July of this year, it is estimated that 14.259,4 thousand guests stayed in the accommodation units, giving rise to 37.229,1 thousand overnight stays.
Comparing with the same period in 2021, there will be an increase of 194,3% in total overnight stays, resulting from the expected increase of 58,5% in residents (+4.513,3 thousand overnight stays) and of +406,2% for non-residents (+20.066,4 thousand overnight stays).
Finally, tourism revenues continue to grow significantly, above 2019 (+11% in July), confirming the Bank of Portugal's forecasts in this regard, which point to non-residents' spending in 2022 to exceed by 4,2, 2019% the values of XNUMX.
For Rita Marques, Secretary of State for Tourism, Commerce and Services, “these numbers show that the tourism sector is, today, again, an essential engine in our economy”.
“Thanks to government support, but also and above all to the sector's spirit of resilience and creativity, our companies are responding to demand after two very difficult years and, today, Portugal once again stands out as one of the most internationally competitive”, concludes the minister.
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