It was a banner year for tourism in Portugal in 2023 as the country welcomed a record number of 26.5 million visitors to its cities, mountains and shorelines.
The country benefited in part from its vacation getaway affordability, the red-hot popularity of its southern Algarve region and its liberal visa programs.
Record Year For Tourism
The record number of 26.5 million travelers visiting Portugal last year was a 19.2 percent increase over the visitor counts from the pandemic affected year of 2022.
Even despite the comparison to a pandemic year, Portugal recorded a respectable 7.7 percent increase over the pre-pandemic year.
According to the results recently reported by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), the visitor numbers only include non-resident travelers.
Total revenue from overnight stays in hotels and other accommodations increased 20 percent to six trillion Euros nationwide.
Affordable Travel Destination
Relative to much of Europe, Portugal was seen as a value-oriented travel destination for a vacation getaway. Because of this, the country was able to attract a record number of visitors.
Statistics from the INE showed that the average nightly room rate of all hotels in Portugal during 2023 was an affordable €113.
This compares favorably when room rates in many popular cities in Europe easily topped more than €200 during the year.
Even what are considered the most expensive parts of Portugal, such as Lisbon and the Algarve, were still reasonable relative to other large cities and Mediterranean beach destinations.
Popularity of the Algarve
The Mediterranean coast of Portugal, also known as the Algarve, has absolutely exploded in popularity with expats and travelers alike.
Long sandy beaches meet golden cliffs with the warm Mediterranean lifestyle. Relatively expensive to visit compared to other parts of the country, the Algarve is still a good vacation value for shoreline loving travelers.
Many vacation travelers focus on visiting the Algarve region or the largest city, and national capital, Lisbon.
Targeting the Wealthy and the Nomads
Portugal also has become very popular since the pandemic due to its very liberal visa and citizenship policy.
Wealthy travelers were heading to Portugal to purchase a vacation property, or even buy a home for relocation, because of its generous Golden Visa program that gave property buyers a fast track to residency and citizenship.
However, it led to many locals struggling to find affordable housing in the popular Golden Visa markets. The government responded by scaling back the availability of the popular program.
The liberal digital nomad visa program was another source of many travelers to Portugal. The country created a very popular program to attract remote workers from all over the world.
Paired with low costs of living, the Portuguese digital nomad initiative was very successful in remote work travel and tourism to the country.
Tips For Travelers
The traveler demand for vacation getaways remains strong this summer and Europe appears to be a popular tourist destination.
Because of this, visitors heading to Portugal, especially the popular tourist destinations of the Algarve and Lisbon, should continue.
It also connects to the fact that with the global economy slowing, especially in the United States, travelers may be looking for more of a value travel destination in Europe. Relatively speaking, Portugal meets this value focused travel approach.
Tourists wanting to explore Portugal on a trip to Europe should plan ahead and make flight and hotel reservations well in advance of travel. This will be an important planning factor for travelers considering a late summer or early fall escape to Lisbon or the Algarve.
Travelers can expect to pay high rates for hotels in the popular destinations, relative to other parts of Portugal. However, even those should be pretty affordable relative to other destinations in Europe.