Easter brought new records to tourism and filled hotels and local accommodation from the north to the south of the country. Although foreigners were mainly responsible for stays in the national territory – 4.1 million overnight stays (+13.8%) in March, the Portuguese also took advantage of this period to pack their bags and go abroad. In the third month of the year, tourist accommodation received 2.3 million guests (+12.8%) who were responsible for 5.7 million overnight stays (+12.2%), the National Statistics Institute (INE) announced yesterday ).
Overnight stays in the national market grew 10.3%, compared to March 2023, totaling 1.6 million. In an analysis of the national map, all regions received more Portuguese tourists with the exception of Madeira and Greater Lisbon. Looking at the islands, Madeira recorded close to 100 thousand overnight stays from the domestic market in the 3rd month of the year, a decrease of 12.9% compared to the previous year. The statistics office points out that “the results were influenced by the calendar effect of the holiday period associated with Easter, which this year was spread between March and April, while in the previous year it was concentrated only in April”. In other words, even with this holiday in March as a bonus, both regions lost their share of overnight stays from national tourists.
In the capital, the scenario was identical, although less expressive. Tourist accommodation in Lisbon registered 284 thousand overnight stays, which translates into a decrease of 2.4%. Even so, Lisbon was the second region in the country with the highest number of Portuguese overnight stays, surpassed only by the North, with 368 thousand overnight stays. The greatest growth was seen, however, in the West Region and Tagus Valley, which totaled 115 thousand resident overnight stays, representing a growth of 23%. This was followed by the Center (+22.6%), Alentejo (+22.5%) and Algarve (+21.2%).
The average stay indicator in tourist accommodation establishments also showed a performance positive rate of 2.48 nights, an increase of 0.5% (-0.7% in February). “This indicator recorded the highest growth in RA Açores (+6.5%) and in Oeste and Vale do Tejo (+3.5%)”, points out the office, adding that the “highest values of this indicator continued to be observed- in Madeira (4.51 nights) and in the Algarve (3.74 nights), with the shortest stays occurring in the Center (1.68 nights) and in Alentejo (1.76 nights)”.
