Lisbon received almost one cruise ship a day. It is a new record

Last year, 947 cruise ships docked in the Portuguese shore, and pretty much one third of them stopped in Lisbon: the Portuguese capital city received almost one tourism ship a day. In total, Portuguese harbors brought 1.3 million visitors to the country.

There was no exception: in 2017, all Portuguese ports received more passengers than last year. In total, this number increased 5%, helped by cruise ships, which registered a 10% increase in stops — they ascended to 947, according to the Lisbon Port Administration, in a press release. According to that entity, these results “significantly contribute to the positive values in tourism achieved by Portugal and in the way the project projects itself to issuing markets”.

Lisbon had 330 ships coming to Tagus — almost as many as the days in a year –, achieving a new record. In the Madeira Islands, the harbors of Funchal and Porto Santo served as an entrance to over a half a million passengers, more than those who got to the capital city. And this is not the only island celebrating: the Azores had a 26% growth in cruise stops, from 121 to 152. Visitors also increased from 125,904 in 2016 to 135,783 in 2017.

Portimão, in the Algarve, was the city that had the most positive results from the dynamism in its harbor. The flow of passengers increased by 53%, the most expressive rise among its peers: it received 29,859 visitors. The number of stops also rocket by 63%, from 43 to 71 stops. In Leixões, there were 100 stops, against 84 registered in 2016, reaching 95,562 visitors.