In November, the Portuguese accommodation sector welcomed 1.7 million guests and recorded 4.2 million overnight stays. Compared to the same month of 2019, in the case of non-resident tourists, overnight stays rose by almost 6%, which corresponds to “the biggest growth compared to 2019”, since the beginning of the pandemic. Overnight stays from residents increased more timidly (0.8%), according to data from the quick estimate released by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

Last November, the internal market contributed with 1.3 million overnight stays and once again registered a positive evolution, in the order of 6.3%, after a decrease of 3.2% in October. External markets totalled 2.9 million, which translates into an increase of 26.4%.

Overnight stays from residents of the United Kingdom and Germany represented, respectively, 14.7% and 12.8% of total overnight stays from foreign tourists in November. However, the evolution compared to the same period of 2019 was different: while in the United Kingdom they decreased by 1.8%, in Germany they increased by 2.8%.

US Tourists

Tourists from the United States of America saw overnight stays rising by 42.7% compared to November 2019 (42.7%). The North American market now accounts for 8.8% of total overnight stays by foreign tourists in Portugal, exactly the same percentage as for the Spanish market, although, in this case, the trend was the opposite (-7.8%).

The French market, on the other hand, increased by 19.1%, to 7.7% of total overnight stays by foreign tourists. Also noteworthy is the growth of the Czech (94.1%), Polish (50.4%), and Irish (36.2%) markets.

In the first eleven months of 2022, overnight stays increased by 89.4% (22.4% in residents and 157.7% in non-residents).

In November, 31.6% of tourist accommodation establishments were closed or did not register guests.

Growth in all sectors

Overnight stays in hotels (which account for 82.3% of the total) increased by 19% (3% compared to November 2019), while overnight stays in local accommodation establishments (14.9% of the total) grew by 23.9% ( 6.8% compared to November 2019).

However, it was in rural and residential tourism (a share of 2.8%) that recorded the biggest increase compared to November 2019. In this segment, overnight stays increased by 9.5%, which represents a growth of 38 .6% compared to November 2019.

INE data also reveal that, in November, there were increases in overnight stays in all regions of the country. The Lisbon Metropolitan Area concentrated the highest number, with 32.9% of total overnight stays, followed by the Algarve and the north with 17.5%.

However, when compared to 2019 levels, the Algarve is 5.4% below the overnight stays recorded in the same month of the pre-pandemic period, as well as the central region (-2.3%) and the Alentejo (-1.6%).

The biggest increases were noted, in turn, in Madeira, where overnight stays from foreign tourists rose by 24.9% and in the Azores, which registered a further 17.5%.