Tourism exceeds pre-pandemic levels in April

Two years after the pandemic began, national tourism has finally returned to what it was. the country’s tourist accommodation sector received 2.4 million guests in April, an increase of 424.6% compared to the same month in 2021, according to the flash estimate published by Statistics Portugal (INE) on Tuesday. The figures also show that for the first time the number of tourists surpassed those achieved in 2019.

There were 2.4 million guests and six million overnight stays in the fourth month of the year, corresponding to year-on-year rates of change of +424.6% and 548.4%, respectively. Compared to April 2019, there were increases of 1.6% and 1.1%, respectively. “It is the first time since the beginning of the pandemic that growth has been recorded compared to the same period prior to the pandemic,” the statistics office stated.

In the same month there were about one million national guests and 1.36 million foreigners. In terms of overnight stays, the domestic market contributed with 1.9 million overnight stays and the external markets totalled 4.1 million. Compared to April 2019, the domestic market grew by 15.0% and foreign markets decreased by 4.4%.