The Associação da Hotelaria de Portugal are anticipating results better than 2024, but fears that the situation at airports, marked by images of long queues, which could pose threats to tourism 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 revenue),” Cristina Siza Vieira, executive vice-president of AHP.
“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 highlighted.
The official also highlighted that the forecasts for the summer indicate “a similar distribution to that of previous years between the national and international markets”, and that, “despite the growth of domestic tourism, the resident market is expected to represent around 30% of overnight stays, while the international market will continue to dominate, with around 70%”.
Francisco Calheiros, president of the Portuguese Tourism Confederation (CTP), also believes in a positive summer.
“We are looking at this summer in a very positive light. The Easter period was already a good indicator”, he highlighted, 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”.
“These are, therefore, very good indicators for the upcoming summer,” he said.
However, the situation at airports is worrying association leaders.
“Since mid-May, we have been experiencing a critical situation on the ground at Portuguese airports, which mainly affects Lisbon and Faro,” says Cristina Siza Vieira.
“This critical situation constitutes the greatest threat to the operation in the short term (I say 'short' because we believe it will surely be resolved soon), as we know, it affects passengers arriving on flights from countries outside Europe or the Schengen area and which have a large impact on national tourism, as is the case in the American market”, she warned.
The executive vice-president of AHP recalled that the American market is the second largest “in terms of guests and overnight stays in Portugal and the first for Lisbon (with no forecast of a decline, even less so this summer, given the increase in air connections, TAP and American companies)”.
For Cristina Siza Vieira, this situation still constitutes a “terrible image at the gateway to Portugal”.
Francisco Calheiros said, in turn, that “the long queues currently seen, especially at Faro and Lisbon airports, due to failures in the new electronic system responsible for document control, particularly for those arriving from countries outside the European Union, is a very worrying situation, even more so as summer approaches”.
The CTP, according to the president, has been meeting with the Government, “showing its concern regarding this serious problem” and has already “been assured that the problem will be resolved very soon”.
The confederation “hopes that this will be the case”, it stressed, given that “this current reality of long queues at airports to pass through document control, for those arriving from outside the Schengen area, negatively affects the image of a country that wants to establish itself as a competitive, modern and efficient destination”.
