Around 20% of all overnight stays in Portugal from international travellers are British visitors, while the country is becoming more popular for the younger market.
We are pretty much in line with the numbers we had in 2019,” Rita Marques, the secretary of state for tourism, told Travel Weekly at World Travel Market. “20% of the overnights in Portugal belong to [British travellers].”
Marques said she expects the numbers to stay strong. “We see of course the Brits being a little bit anxious about inflation costs, about some type of uncertainty that we are living through because we do have a war in Europe unfortunately,” she said. “As far as Brexit is concerned, you’ve already flipped the page.”
There is an increased interest from young people travelling to Portugal. “Young people have a kind of a mindset that they want to travel, they want to discover new places, but they want to be sure they the destination complies with specific standards as far as sustainability is concerned,” Marques said.
This sustainability goes beyond single-use plastics and there are laws being changed whereby new hotels have to comply with strict regulations regarding energy efficiencies, for example.
However, Marques stressed the social side of sustainability is also important. “At the end of the day, sustainability is about diversity, inclusion, about being open minded, and in Portugal, I think people feel really at home,” she said.
British travellers are also “more curious about what is next in Portugal”, said Marques. “Golf, surfing, trekking, cycling, the wine industry – they are trying to discover these new products.”
The tourist board has also been focusing its marketing efforts to highlight slow travel across Portugal.