Tourist bookings for the New Year in Portugal are forecasted to break records, according to Pedro Costa Ferriera, the president of the Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies.
Ferriera has revealed that reservations are still being made at the same rate as they have been for the entire year, despite concerns they may be affected by recent developments, unstable political environments, and other issues.
In regard to the bookings for the upcoming year, he expressed optimism that 2024 may be the best year ever for tourism in Portugal.
People are probably traveling instead of other social life options, namely dinners. We heard that from a Google executive [at the APAVT Congress last week in Porto], and I can even say more: during the ‘Black week,’ the first information we have is that sales were absolutely fantastic, unprecedented, and already for the next year.
President Ferriera made such evaluations in an interview for the Portuguese News Agency Lusa.
Although the Algarve and Madeira have historically been the most popular destinations, Alentejo, Lisbon, the Center, the North, and the Azores have recently created more attractive alternative offers, managing to lure more tourists.
When it comes to international travel, some of the most popular places for Portuguese travelers are Brazil, Cape Verde, Sao Tome, Cuba, and Disneyland Paris.
Data released on October 27 by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) show that Portuguese citizens took 5.7 million trips in the second quarter of 2023, marking a 6.1 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2022, and one per cent more compared to the second quarter of 2019.
Domestic trips, which accounted for 85.6 per cent of the trips made, marked a 5.5 per cent increase to 4.8 million. Whereas trips abroad accounted for 14.4 per cent of the total, or 812.2 thousand trips made.
In general terms, tourism in Portugal has seen significant growth so far this year. Portugal has already surpassed the pre-pandemic figures by setting new records for overnight stays and tourism revenue compared to 2019.
Between January and July 2023, Portugal welcomed 16.8 million tourists, and during the same time, there were a total of 42.8 million overnight stays, according to INE data. These figures marked a ten per cent increase compared to the same time in 2019, which was a record year for the tourism industry in Portugal.
