Tourism drop off in Portugal

After seven years of growth in tourist arrivals which has benefited its economy, Portugal saw the number of foreign visitors fall 2% in August, which is traditionally the strongest month for travel.

The National Statistics Institute (INE), which monitors hotel stays, said that between January and August that number edged up 0.5% to 8.6 million in a sharp slowdown from a near 12% jump in the same period a year ago.

A record 12.7 million tourists visited Portugal during all of last year. The drop in August alone, from the same month a year ago, followed a near 3% fall in July. Hotel revenues, including from domestic tourism, still rose over 7% in January-August to nearly 2.5 billion euros (about R41 billion), INE said. During all of last year hotel revenues rose 17%. The average hotel stay fell almost 2% to 2.8 nights.

Travellers from all main European markets stayed fewer nights in Portuguese hotels, with Britain leading the trend, but a higher number of tourists from Brazil and North America spent more time in Portugal. Tourism and all travel-related revenues account for over 10% of Portugal’s gross domestic product.

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