Tourism sector foresees positive Summer but continued chaos at airports

Portugal’s tourism sector predicts a positive summer, expecting better results than 2024, but fears that the chaos at Portugal’s airports, particularly Faro and Lisbon, with TV and media images of long queues, could threaten holiday-maker’s plans in the short term.

“Everything points to a summer in line with the growth already recorded in the first four months of this year (8.5% more guests; 9.2% more overnight stays; 12.6% more total income),” Cristina Siza Vieira, executive vice president of AHP – Associação da Hotelaria de Portugal, told Lusa.

“In fact, we expect 2025 to have results above 2024, a forecast supported by the data already collected: all indicators point to continued and consistent growth, with 2025 potentially being better than 2024, both in terms of guest volume and overnight stays and in terms of revenue,” she said.

Cristina Siza Vieira also highlighted that the forecasts for the summer indicate “a similar division between the national and international markets” and that despite national market growth, it it is expected that the national market will represent around 30% of overnight stays while the international market will represent 70%.

The President of the Portugal Tourism Confederation (CTP), Francisco Calheiros, also thinks this summer will be positive.

“We are very positive about this summer. The Easter period was already a good indicator,” he said, pointing out that, according to INE data, in April, “the tourist accommodation sector registered 2.9 million guests and 7.1 million overnight stays, which is equivalent to year-on-year increases of 8.5% and 9.2%, respectively.”