Tourism in Portugal
Tourism in Portugal serves millions of international and domestic tourists. Tourists visit to see cities, historic landmarks, enjoy beaches, or religious sites. As of 2024, Portugal had 29 million international visitors. In addition, there were 22,9 million trips made by Portuguese residents including overnight stays at local hotels.
The most popular destinations are Lisbon, Porto, the Algarve, the Portuguese Riviera, Madeira, Sintra, Óbidos, Nazaré, Fátima, Braga, Guimarães and Coimbra. The most popular with internationals were Lisbon region, the Algarve, the West and Tagus Valley region, Northern Portugal and Coimbra. National tourists prefer the Algarve and Northern Portugal, followed by Central region of Portugal.
Statistics
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In 2016, and compared to 2015, most tourists staying in hotels were attracted to Lisbon, Porto and Northern Portugal, the Algarve, Central Portugal, Madeira, Alentejo, and the Azores. The Algarve and Lisbon lead in overnight stays. In 2016, overnight stays grew significantly in other regions: the Azores, Northern Portugal, Alentejo, Central Portugal, and Madeira.
The following table presents the nationality of the largest demographic of tourists from 2017 to 2023:
In 2016, accounting international tourists, the most popular regions were Lisbon, Algarve, Northern Portugal, Central Portugal, Madeira, Alentejo 370,000 and the Azores. For national tourists the most popular regions were Northern Portugal, Central Portugal, Lisbon, the Algarve, Alentejo, Madeira, and the Azores.
Lisbon is, with Barcelona, one of the European cities leading in overnight stays. The urban areas of Porto and Northern Portugal, north of Douro River surpassed Madeira, in 2010, and the Algarve, in 2015, and became the second most visited destination in Portugal. In 2015, most tourists were Europeans, but also from the Americas and Asia. Sleeping in the country's hotels, the most numerous are the British, Spanish, French, Germans, Brazilians, the Dutch, Americans, Italians, and the Japanese, which not only want the sun and the beach, but mostly cultural ones, city breaks, gastronomy, nautical tourism, or business traveling.
Portugal won 14 "Oscars" of the tourism. The national tourism had 77 nominations and won a total of 14 awards in more than 10 European categories, surpassing Spain or Italy, at the gala of the World Travel Awards 2015, whose ceremony took place in Sardinia, Italy. CNN compared Lisbon and Porto head-to-head in order to find who has the best food, culture, old cafés and boutiques, nightlife, and the best beaches.
Travel guide giants Lonely Planet have designated Portugal as one of the top 3 countries to visit in 2018.
Tourism regions
Tourist hotspots in Portugal are Lisbon, Porto, the Algarve, Madeira, Sintra, Óbidos, Fátima, Coimbra and Azores, but the Portuguese government is currently developing new destinations: the Douro Valley, Porto Santo Island, and Alentejo.Tourist regions
The main tourist regions can be broken-down into:- the Greater Lisbon,
- the Greater Porto,
- the Algarve,
- the Alentejo,
- Central Portugal,
- Northern Portugal and
- the Portuguese Islands: Madeira and Azores.
Most of these regions are grouped in tourism reference areas, which continue to be in a state of reorganization and evolution, some based on the traditional regions of Portugal: the Costa Verde ; Costa da Prata ''; Costa de Lisboa ; Montanhas ; Planícies ; Algarve; and the islands of the archipelagos of Madeira and the Azores. All these regions are grouped in tourism reference areas, which are widely known because these are the traditional regions:
- Costa Verde in Norte Region — The Portuguese green coast comprises all the northern coast of Portugal from the estuary of the Minho River to the city of Porto.
- Costa de Prata in Centro Region — The Portuguese silver coast comprises from Porto to Lisbon. Fátima, Nazaré and Óbidos are 3 very important places.
- Portuguese Riviera
- Comporta — The northwestern coast of the Alentejo
- Caparica Coast — The coast south of Lisbon, across the Tagus river
- Montanhas — Mountainous and interior regions of northern and central Portugal, namely Serra da Estrela and Trás-os-Montes.
- Planícies — The Portuguese plane region of Alentejo in the south.
- Algarve — The southern coast of Portugal including the Golden Triangle.
- Madeira — The Madeira islands.
- Açores — The Azores islands.
Protected areas
The following table presents the number of visitors who contacted each of the protected areas of Portugal, according to ICNF| Protected Area | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
| Alvão | 25,368 | 58,630 | 9,303 | 17,740 | 34,991 |
| Arrábida | 30,435 | 28,795 | 2,668 | 10,276 | 18,880 |
| Arriba Fóssil da Costa da Caparica | 1,498 | 2,267 | 645 | 1,069 | 2,516 |
| Berlengas | 40,505 | 44,078 | 540 | ? | ? |
| Douro International | 28,743 | 60,570 | 0 | 1,170 | 2,018 |
| Dunas de São Jacinto | 6,348 | 5,400 | 3,219 | 2,935 | 11,184 |
| Estuário do Sado | 85,543 | 82,242 | 54,643 | 53,838 | 62,576 |
| Estuário do Tejo | 1,713 | 1,853 | 312 | 99 | 263 |
| Lagoas de Santo André e de Sancha | 12,857 | 8,942 | 2,245 | 2,348 | 8,039 |
| Litoral Norte | 4,582 | 6,723 | 5,752 | 3,182 | 17,018 |
| Madeira | 6,180 | 5,894 | 5,458 | 5,731 | 6,724 |
| Paul do Boquilobo | 2,319 | 1,956 | 1,305 | 811 | 12,275 |
| Peneda-Gerês | 112,227 | 103,593 | 39,485 | 45,527 | 66,198 |
| Paul de Arzila | 1,236 | 860 | 841 | 992 | 1,363 |
| Ria Formosa | 46,662 | 60,061 | 17,202 | 16,805 | 25,997 |
| Serra da Estrela | 3,079 | 18,429 | 4,202 | 1,271 | 1,552 |
| Sapal de Castro Marim e Vila Real de Santo António | 7,642 | 7,999 | 1,375 | 3,429 | 7,367 |
| Serra da Malcata | 4,097 | 3,951 | 649 | 1,274 | 1,259 |
| Serra de São Mamede | 4,556 | 9,934 | 2,620 | 1,032 | 2,316 |
| Serra do Açor | 6,124 | 5,284 | 3,429 | 6,691 | 24,724 |
| Serras de Aire e Candeeiros | 43,435 | 44,326 | 15,691 | 13,422 | 40,313 |
| Sintra-Cascais | 58,127 | 52,774 | 12,912 | 22,184 | 28,467 |
| Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina | 15,950 | 18,027 | 3,593 | 3,759 | 9,096 |
| Tejo Internacional | * | 38 | * | * | 130 |
| Vale do Guadiana | 332 | 1,306 | 32 | 170 | 4,930 |
| Total | 549,558 | 633,923 | 188,121 | 215,755 | 390,196 |