The tourism sector continues to grow and closed 2024 with a new all-time high: 27,651.5 million euros in revenue, according to data from the Bank of Portugal. The figure represents an increase of 8.8% compared to 2023 and exceeds the figures recorded in 2019, before the covid-19 pandemic, by almost ten billion euros. Tourism revenue confirmed the government's projections, exceeding the 27 billion euros forecast.
The dynamism of the sector boosted the surplus in the balance of services, which increased by 2.7 billion euros compared to 2023, reaching 31.9 billion euros. This increase was due to stronger growth in exports than in imports (8.1% and 6.8% respectively), according to the Bank of Portugal.
United Kingdom continues to be the biggest market for tourist receipts
Last year, those responsible for Portugal's biggest tourist receipts were tourists from the United Kingdom (4.1 billion euros), which is equivalent to an increase of 251.4 million euros over the previous year.
They were followed by French tourists, who spent 3.22 billion euros in Portugal in 2024, 58 million euros more than in 2023, and Germans, with a total of 3.12 billion euros, an increase of 238.5 million euros on the previous year.
Together, these three markets increased their spending in Portugal by 547.9 million euros, reaching a total of 10.46 billion euros in 2024.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
