The perspectives were transmitted to Lusa by the executive vice-president of the Portuguese Hotel Association (AHP), Cristina Siza Vieira, who emphasised that they are based on previous years, the relative behavior of hotel 'performance' in 2023 and the information released by organisation of the Web Summit, as the association only carries out a survey of members after the event to comparatively assess the impact it has had.

In the survey carried out by AHP after the Web Summit in 2022, 93% of respondents in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (AML) indicated that the occupancy rate was greater than 80%. In the city of Lisbon, 82% of respondents reported occupancy rates above 90%.

As for the evolution of the average price per room, taking into account the growth recorded since the beginning of 2023, AHP estimates that this "will be higher than 2022".

Last year, the average price was 210 euros in the city of Lisbon and 198 euros in AML.

Asked about the main markets in this period, Cristina Siza Vieira only remembers that in previous years "the TOP 5 main markets for the Hotel Industry were (with some changes in position): USA, United Kingdom, France, Portugal and Germany".

The Web Summit, considered one of the biggest technology summits, begins on Monday in Lisbon with 2,600 startups, an all-time record and, for the first time, without Paddy Cosgrave as the lead.

Regarding whether the hotel industry felt any immediate effect in terms of cancellations right after the controversy following the statements by the former CEO of Web Summit on the social network X (formerly Twitter) about the conflict involving Israel and Hamas, the person responsible said there was no information.

"For now, and directly in the hotel industry, we have no information that they have had an impact on reservations, especially because, as has been a persistent trend, confirmations in the hotel industry appear at the last minute. Now, the aforementioned statements and reactions were the mid-October, and confirmations are emerging this week."

Lusa also contacted several hotel chains that are present in the capital, but only the Vila Galé Group, Hotéis Heritage Lisboa and Mama Shelter Lisboa responded, and across the board with AHP.

Vila Galé Ópera, in Alcântara, "has occupancy above 90%" during the Web Summit, but says it is not "possible to gauge the real impact", "perceiving how many reservations are from event participants".

The Heritage Avenida Liberdade Hotel expects an occupancy of 93%, while the Mama Shelter Lisboa points to 96.4%.

Regarding the increase in the average price per room, only one of the hotels admits to being charging a slightly lower price than in the last edition, in the other two the price increased this year.

In terms of markets, Vila Galé points to the national markets, the United Kingdom and Spain as its main markets (exiting France and entering the United Kingdom), the Heritage Avenida Liberdade Hotel refers to the USA, Spain and Germany, while Mama Shelter Lisboa will host mainly French, English and Americans.

The event, which took place for the first time in Lisbon in 2016, this year features 2,600 startups, "the largest number in the history" of the Web Summit, according to the organization, with 900 investors, around 2,000 confirmed media, 300 partners, 800 speakers, with a total of 70,000 participants.

In total, 160 countries will be represented.