The tourism income in Portugal increased by 16.6% last year compared to 2016, to a total of 39 billion euros. 20.6 million guests and 57.5 million overnight stays were registered, according to the latest statistics.
According to preliminary data of the National Statistical Institute (INE), the income from hotel occupancy increased 18.3% when compared to the performance of 2016, reaching the hallmark of 2.48 billion euros.
Briefly put, the country’s hotel establishments welcomed 20.6 million guests in 2017, the equivalent to 57.5 million overnight stays, leading to annual increases of 8.9% and 7.4% in comparison with the previous year.
The international tourists were the ones who contributed the most to this growth, representing 72.4% of total overnight stays during the past year and boosting the Portuguese tourism income.
Therefore, in 2017, 41.6 million overnight stays of foreigners in the country were registered and 15.9 million overnight stays of Portuguese, 8.6% and 4.1% more than in 2016, respectively.
Solely in December last year, the tourism income increased by 18.1% when compared to the same month of the previous year, for 160.2 million euros, while the income from hotel occupancy settled at 108.3 million euros, an increase of 21.1%.
Also in December 2017, Portuguese hotels recorded 1.2 million guests and 2.7 million overnight stays, an increase of 11.1% and 9.8% in comparison the previous month, respectively.