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Record Year For Tourism In Portugal

Published on 14th September, 2011

Coming just a week after reports that Portugal's airports have seen the highest number of passengers in over ten years, it has now been reported that the first six months of 2011 have been the most profitable ever for the Portuguese tourism industry. One of the largest sectors of the country's economy, totaling about 14% of the country's economy, the Portuguese tourism sector has been able to not only resist the effects of the global economic downturn but actually thrive in the midst of the turmoil. Revenues are up 8.8%, the best on record for Portugal - given that prices have remained the same or declined compared to previous years, these figures are even more impressive.

Although tourism industry insiders state that 2011 has so far been a much better year for the industry than had been predicted, particularly in destinations like Portugal which are off the beaten path, the figures are still surprising. As far as the specifics go, the Portugal News is still waiting for a reply while the experts puzzle over the statistics.

June 2011 was the best month on record for the tourism industry with 10.3% year on year growth; eclipsing the record set by June 2004, when the Euro Football Championship was held in Portugal. Many experts had predicted that this record would stand until another major sporting event was held in the country, but this June has proved them wrong, happily so for the Portuguese tourism sector. In June 2011, foreign tourists spent 660 million Euros in Portugal, 28 million more than the record set in June 2004.

In the first six months of 2011, tourists spent over 3.2 billion Euros in Portugal, 263 million more Euros more than the first six months of 2010. In a statement, Turismo de Portugal has said that these are the best figures for the first half of the year on record in terms of revenue; eclipsing the record of 3.139 billion Euros spent in the first half of 2008 by foreign tourists.

Tourists from Brazil, France and the United Kingdom accounted for the largest share of tourism revenue from January to June 2011. The largest increases in tourism revenue were from Brazilian tourists, up 40.5%; the United States, up 22.1%; Belgium, up 15%; France, up 14.2% and Germany, up by 10.5%.

Tourism is predicted to become an even larger part of the Portuguese economy in 2011, further fueling Portugal's emergence from the recession. According to a report by The Portugal News last week, the number of passengers at Portugal's largest airports rose to 3.2 million in July, a larger figure than has been seen since records were set at Lisbon's and Oporto's airports around 2000.

So Portugal's seeing more tourists, and for those tourists that are now looking at property for sale in Portugal contact the Portugal property team via email at: info@portugalproperty.com or call free now on: +44 (0) 800 014 8201

Published in: Travel