Hoteliers plan to double Lisbon and Porto offer

Portugal’s tourism bureau Turismo de Portugal has approved 208 new tourism project, most of which will be hotels for Lisbon.

This approval will effectively double the current number of hotels in the capital which stands at 210 according to daily newspaper Diário de Notícias.

In Porto there are 93 projects with planning permission which will be added to the current number of 96.

Despite fears that some of these properties will become white elephants when the boom in tourism in Portugal ends and another European city becomes the next trendy destination (Athens is tipped), for now tourism revenues justify the current investment.

Tourism revenues have gone from €3Bn in 2011 (the height of the economic crisis when Portugal called in the Troika) to €15Bn projected for this year.

According to the newspaper, hoteliers and related associations want to double the offer in Lisbon and Porto. In Lisbon, if all 208 projects are confirmed, the capital will up the amount of beds available to 67,367 without counting local B&B accommodation. However, many of these projects are still waiting for planning permission from Lisbon City Council.

In Porto 93 new hotels are planned meaning the city will have 189 hotels offering 22,100 beds not including local accommodation.

The Secretary of State for Tourism, Ana Mendes Godinho stresses that the favourable reception to  viability studies and outline planning permission “does not mean full planning permission but over the past 10 years the number of hotels aimed at tourist has doubled all over Portugal.”