Saturday, November 30, 2024
In October, the tourist accommodation sector welcomed 3 million guests, marking a year-on-year growth of 3.8%, surpassing the increase seen in the prior month.
Tourism in Portugal continues to show strong growth in both guest arrivals and overnight stays, even beyond the summer season. October saw a notable surge in the Canadian market, which recorded the highest annual growth rate (+15%) among the top ten inbound markets. At the same time, overnight stays by residents reversed the downward trend of September, increasing by 1.2%, reaching a total of 1.9 million.
According to the quick estimate of tourist activity for October, released by the National Statistics Institute (INE), the accommodation sector welcomed 3 million guests and recorded 7.6 million overnight stays, reflecting increases of 3.8% and 2.5%, respectively, compared to the previous year.
When comparing October’s data to September, a shift was observed in the resident overnight stay trend, which moved from a 0.6% decline to a 1.2% increase. On the other hand, overnight stays by non-residents slowed slightly by 0.7 percentage points, totaling 5.7 million.
In October, the Alentejo region experienced a decline in overnight stays, falling by 4.4% compared to the same month last year, while other regions saw significant growth. The Azores led the way with a 10.8% increase, followed closely by the Center region, which saw a 7.0% rise.
On the international front, overnight stays rose across all regions, with the most notable increases in the Azores (+19.3%) and the Setúbal Peninsula (+8.9%). Alentejo was the exception, recording a drop of 3.1%. In the domestic market, Madeira (+10.7%) and the Centro region (+8.6%) saw the largest gains in overnight stays, while Alentejo (-5.3%), the West and Tagus Valley (-4.8%), and the Algarve (-3.9%) experienced the steepest declines.
What are the sources of tourist arrivals?
In the eighth month of the year, the top ten source markets accounted for around 75.7% of all non-resident overnight stays, with the United Kingdom leading at 19.9%, followed by Germany at 12.6% and the United States at 10.4%.
Among these markets, Canada saw the largest growth (+15.0%), while Spain experienced the most significant decline in tourist numbers (-12.4%).
The average length of stay across all tourist accommodation was 2.54 nights, representing a decrease of 1.2% compared to October 2023, with residents and non-residents both seeing reductions of 2.1% and 1.0%, respectively. Only the Azores (+1.9%) and Madeira (+2.2%) saw an increase in average stays.
The net bed occupancy rate dropped by 0.2 percentage points to 51.0%, continuing the downward trend observed in September (-0.1 percentage point). However, the net room occupancy rate increased by 0.7 percentage points, reaching 63.2%.
