The World Travel & Tourism Council estimates that growth in Portugal is twice as high as last year and that this growth is expected to grow more than 5%.
The WTTC estimates that the tourism sector in Portugal will grow 5.3% this year, "more than doubling the European average of 2.5%," according to the institution’s website.
The Council revealed that the growth rate of the sector in Portugal is one of the highest in Europe and that it, "contributed last year to one euro in five and one in five jobs in the economy.”
The WTTC concludes that in 2018, tourism grew 8.1% and contributed €38.4 billion to the Portuguese economy, some 19% of the country's economic activity.
"This level of growth was the highest in any country in Europe, significantly above the EU average of 3.1%," says the WTTC, noting that the sector employed more than one million people (21.8% of the total).
The WTTC President, Gloria Guevara, commented that, "Portugal has the potential to further increase the size of its tourism sector by focusing on growth in the business segment, which accounts for only 15% of total travellers' spending against a European average of 21%.
"The latest data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE) show that the tourist accommodation sector registered 3 million overnight stays in January 2019, an increase of 4.7% over the same period last year.
