The Portuguese travel and tourism industry is expected to surpass 2019 numbers this year, adding €40.4 billion to the economy of Portugal, the World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) 2023 Economic Impact Research (EIR) predicts.
According to the statistics, the national economy benefited €21.7 billion from foreign visitors’ spending in 2022, marking a startling year gain of 80.4 per cent – only 7.7 per cent below 2019 levels.
The president and CEO of WTTC, Julia Simpson, said that high tourist demand has encouraged Portugal’s travel and tourism industry’s strong and fast recovery.
“The future for the sector is very optimistic. By the end of this year, the sector’s contribution will surpass 2019 levels, and over the next decade, growth will surpass the national GDP and create 248,000 new workplaces over the decade, representing one in four jobs,” Simpson stated.
Number of Workplaces in Tourism Sector to Increase by 30k in 2023
The tourism industry will create about 30,000 new workplaces by the end of this year, bringing the total number of people engaged in travel and tourism to 950,000, just 68,000 less than in 2019.
Beyond Portugal, in 2022, the sector employed 34.7 million people in the region, increasing to 2.9 million from 2021, while remaining 3.2 million behind its highest level in 2019.
The industry has now rebounded more than 90 per cent of the jobs it had before the pandemic and it is expected that by the end of 2024, it will have completely recovered the employment opportunities lost due to the pandemic.
According to the Institute of Employment & Professional Training, unemployment in Portugal increased by 36.2 per cent during the period May 2019 – May 2020 and by 37.4 per cent during the period September 2019 – September 2020 due to the COVID-19 impact on the labour market.
It has been predicted that in the next ten years, one in four people could be working in the travel and tourism industry, with the same potentially employing more than 1.2 million people nationwide in total.
Over 1/5th of Portugal’s GDP in 2033 to Be Generated by Travel & Tourism
In 2022, the Travel & Tourism industry’s GDP contribution increased by 61.6 per cent to reach €38 billion, which represents 15.8 per cent of the Portuguese economy.
The region’s economy received €1.9 trillion from the European travel and tourism industry in 2022, just seven per cent less than it did in 2019. The regional sector’s GDP contribution will top €2.04 trillion in 2023 and be just over the 2019 peak.
By 2033, the industry is expected to contribute €56.4 billion to Portugal’s GDP, or more than one-fifth (21.1 per cent) of the country’s total GDP.
Spaniards, the French & Brits Are Portugal’s Largest Nationality Groups of Tourists
The top source markets for foreign arrivals in Portugal in 2022 were:
- Spain (16 per cent)
- France (12 per cent)
- the United Kingdom (11 per cent)
- Germany (eight per cent)
- the United States (eight per cent)
Overall, reservations from foreign tourists outside of Portugal saw an increase of 75.85 per cent while reservations from local tourists of Portugal increased by 24.15 per cent.
