Growth in tourism export, import indicators continues in September YoY

Expenditure by foreign tourists in Portugal and Portuguese tourists in other countries in September maintained “significant growth,” 69% and 30%, respectively, in year-on-year terms, the Bank of Portugal (BdP) said on Monday.

“In September 2022, the preliminary indicator for travel and tourism points to significant growth in exports and imports compared to September 2021, in line with the developments recorded in August,” said the BdP.

The BdP detailed that “the indicator suggests export growth of 69% against September 2021 (after a variation of 71% in August) and import growth of 30% (after a variation of 47% in August).

September’s figures are also above those recorded in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year, with exports at 115% and imports at 121% of the respective figures observed in the same month of 2019.

Regarding the accumulated figures until September 2022, exports and imports also exceed the figures observed in the same period of 2019, corresponding to 114% and 106% of the amounts recorded then.

The series presented today by the BdP are preliminary figures for the year-on-year rate of change, both for spending by foreign tourists in Portugal (also called exports or credits), and for spending by residents living in Portugal when travelling to other countries (also called imports or debits).

As the central bank explains “this information is based on a more restricted set of information, predominantly from bank cards, and does not replace the historical series of exports and imports of travel and tourism published in BPstat”.

The BdP updates the preliminary indicator for travel and tourism in the balance of payments on November 30.