In July, the country’s tourist accommodation sector received 1.6 million guests for a total of 4.5 million overnight stays. Even that, however, represents a decline compared to July 2019, down 42.5% and 45.0%, respectively. The data were published today by the National Institute of Statistics.
Compared to 2019, resident overnight stays grew by 6.4%, while those by non-residents fell by 67.6%. Between January and July 2021, there was a decrease of 2.4% in total overnight stays due to an increase of 31.7% for residents and a decline of 30.7% for non-residents. These changes were impacted by the first two months of 2020 when the impact of the pandemic had yet to hit. Compared to the same period in 2019, overnight stays decreased by 67.4% (-31.5% for residents and -82.1% for non-residents). 19.1% of tourist accommodation establishments were closed in July or had no guests (26.0% in June).
Regarding guests and overnight stays, growth declined somewhat when compared to the same period of 2019. According to the INE, the tourist accommodation sector in July 2021 hosted 1.6 million guests for a total of 4.5 million overnight stays, up 59.6% and 71.9%, respectively (+186.1% and +230.1% in June).
According to the analysis, compared to July 2019, the number of guests fell by 42.5%, while overnight stays decreased by 45.0%. Overnight stays in hotels (80.0% of the total) dropped by 76.3% (-46.3% compared to July 2019). Meanwhile, overnight stays in local accommodation establishments (13.8% of the total) grew by 75.2% (-48.5% compared to the same month of 2019), and those in rural and residential tourism units (6.1%) increased by 26.1% (+0.8% compared to July 2019).
Between January and July 2021, more visitors from Poland (+103.8%), Switzerland (+35.9%) and Belgium (+30.2%) travelled to Portugal, while the remaining main markets recorded decreases.
All seventeen main source markets registered increases in July, and represented 87.5% of nights spent by non-residents in tourist accommodation establishments this month. The British market represented 13.1% of total nights spent by non-residents, followed by Spain (16.9%), France (14.8%) and the Netherlands (6.3%).
Regionally, though the number of nights spent by residents increased across the board, the Algarve accounted for 34.5% of nights spent in July, followed by the North (15.5%), the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (14.6%) and the Autonomous Region of Madeira (12.1%). Between January and July, the number of nights spent in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (-28.7%), Madeira (-7.4%) and the North (-2.8%) fell, while the remaining regions showed growth.
