Tourist accommodation stats show one million guests, 2.1M overnight stays in May

  • Lusa
  • 1 July 2021

The tourist accommodation sector in Portugal recorded 1.0 million guests and 2.1 million overnight stays in May 2021.

Tourist accommodation recorded one million guests and 2.1 million overnight stays in May, growth compared to 2020, but a decrease of 62.3% and 68.6%, respectively, compared to May 2019, according to Statistics Portugal (INE).

“The tourist accommodation sector recorded 1.0 million guests and 2.1 million overnight stays in May 2021 which compares with 126.600 guests and 261.600 overnight stays in May 2020, when tourism activity was practically at a standstill,” according to the May rapid statistics on tourism activity, released on Thursday by Statistics Portugal (INE).

“The levels reached in May 2021 were, however, lower than those observed in May 2019, with a decrease in the number of guests and overnight stays, 62.3% and 68.6%, respectively”.

Compared also with May 2019, there were decreases of 22.3% in resident overnight stays and 83.8% in non-resident overnight stays.

In May, 35.7% of tourist accommodation establishments were closed or recorded no guest movement, a decrease from the 50.4% recorded in April.

Regarding the source markets, all the seventeen main markets recorded increases in May, and accounted for 86.5% of nights spent by non-residents in tourist accommodation establishments that month.

In the period under review, the British market represented 25% of total nights spent by non-residents, followed by the Spanish (14.3%), German (10.8%) and French (9.0%) markets.

As for nights spent by residents, the Algarve had 24.7% of the total, in May, followed by the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (20.1%), the North (19.7%) and the Centre (15.0%).

In the first five months of the year, the regions with the lowest decreases in overnight stays were the Alentejo (-0.4%), the Azores (-16.4%), the Centre (-26.8%) and the North (-39.3%), while the remaining regions recorded decreases of over 50%.

Between January and May, there were increases in overnight stays by residents in Madeira (23.6%), Alentejo (16.9%), the Azores (13.9%) and Algarve (8.9%).