"Perhaps we can reach the end of this year, if everything goes as it has so far, at about 85% of 2019. We hope in 2023 to reach the previous values", said the director general of the Lisbon Tourism Association, Vítor Costa.

Vítor Costa added that these perspectives depend on some variables, above all, the impacts that the war in Ukraine may have, and gave as an example the prices of fuel, which are reflected in the prices of air travel, with Lisbon being a tourist destination "very dependent" on air transport due to its geographical location.

"When there is an economic crisis, the first thing people cut back is on travel and the first thing companies cut back on is marketing. This can have implications", added Vítor Costa, who highlighted the weight of two types of segments in tourism in Lisbon, "leisure tourism" and business tourism, linked to conferences or company presentations.

Continued recovery

Associação Turismo de Lisboa's prospects for 2022 and 2023 follow the recovery that has already been recorded in 2021, when there was a 30% recovery in activity compared to 2020, although the indicators still recorded a drop of 58% compared to 2019, that is, to the values ​​prior to the beginning of the pandemic, according to Vítor Costa.

Tourism in Lisbon will not reach pre-Covid-19 numbers this year because of the impact that the last wave of the pandemic had in January and February, he added.