Foreign tourists reach highest level since 2018

In 2024, the tourist accommodation sector’s dependence on foreign markets reached its highest level since 2018, with overnight stays from non-residents accounting for 70.3%, compared to 70.4% six years earlier, INE announced on Friday.

According to preliminary data from Statistics Portugal (INE), in 2024 tourist accommodation establishments recorded 31.6 million guests and 80.3 million overnight stays, reflecting annual increases of 5.2% and 4.0% respectively.

Overnight stays by non-residents predominated (70.3% of the total) and reached 56.4 million, while those by residents (29.7% of the total) totalled 23.9 million, corresponding to increases of 4.8% and 2.4%, respectively.

“Compared to 2023, dependence on foreign markets increased slightly (69.8% in 2023), reaching the highest weight since 2018 (70.4%),” notes INE.

Of the increase of 3.1 million overnight stays recorded in 2024 compared to 2023, non-residents were responsible for 82.1 % (+2.6 million overnight stays), while residents contributed 557,700 additional overnight stays.

According to the statistical institute, last year, overnight stays from residents were dominant in only two regions: the Centre and the Alentejo, where they accounted for 67.1% and 66.5%, respectively.

The regions where dependence on foreign markets was most significant last year were Madeira and Greater Lisbon (85.3% and 82.0% of total overnight stays in 2024, in the same order).

INE data also shows that foreign markets “predominated in all the months of 2024, with a greater preponderance in October and May”, when they accounted for 75.5% and 75.3% of the total overnight stays recorded in each month, respectively.

On the other hand, December and August saw the least dependence on external markets, with overnight stays from residents accounting for 37.9% and 34.6% of the total for each month, respectively.

In 2024, the British market remained the main market (18.1% of total overnight stays from non-residents) and grew by 2.7%. This was followed by the German (11.3% of the total), Spanish (9.7% of the total), North American (9.2% of the total) and French (+8.0% of the total) markets.

The summer quarter (July to September) saw the highest share of overnight stays from residents (31.1% in 2024, after 31.7% in 2023), while the second quarter saw the greatest dependence on external markets (73.2%, 72.2% in 2023).

In quarterly terms, the British market has always been the main market over the last two years, albeit with slight losses in market share over the last three quarters (compared to the same quarters in 2023). In the fourth quarter of 2024, it accounted for 17.0% of overnight stays from non-residents (-0.5 percentage points compared to the fourth quarter of 2023).

The German market accounted for 12.3% of total overnight stays from non-residents (+0.1 percentage points compared to 2023), followed by the North American market, which had a share of 9.8% (+0.4 percentage points).

INE’s analysis also shows that, in 2024, Greater Lisbon was the NUTS II region with the lowest dependence on both the main foreign market (16.1% of total overnight stays from non-residents) and the three main foreign markets as a whole (32.%).

This was followed by the Azores (17.4%), the Alentejo (17.7%) and the North (17.9%) as the regions with the lowest dependence on the main external market. The Setúbal Peninsula was the second region with the least dependence on the three main external markets (37.7%).

Conversely, the Algarve region was most dependent on the main external market, which accounted for 36.% of overnight stays from non-residents. This was followed by the Centre (25.3%), Madeira (24.2%) and the West and Tagus Valley (24.1%).

The Algarve and Madeira regions were most dependent on the three main external markets (58.8% of total overnight stays from non-residents).

Spain was the main foreign market in five regions – Centre (25.3% of overnight stays from non-residents), Oeste e Vale do Tejo (24.1%), Península de Setúbal (18.2%), Norte (17.9%) and Alentejo (17.7%) – while the United States stood out in the Azores (17.4%) and Greater Lisbon (16.1%).

In turn, Germany was the largest foreign market in Madeira (24.2%), and the United Kingdom was the main one in the Algarve (36.6%).