Last year was "one of strong growth in a particularly difficult situation. In 2023, unfortunately, we already had the conflict in Ukraine, the issue of inflation and interest rates, in short, a combination that was not easy. But even so, the sector of tourism has shown how resilient it is and that it has the capacity to grow, and grow above than the world average", he stated.

The tourism sector, globally, grew in 2023 to around 95% of 2019 values, pre-pandemic, but Portugal "is far beyond that", with unprecedented numbers both in terms of guests and overnight stays, as well as revenue, he highlighted Carlos Abade, who was speaking to journalists at the Madrid International Tourism Fair, known as FITUR.

According to recently released data, forecasts point to 77 million overnight stays in 2023, a growth of almost 11% compared to 2022, and revenues of close to 25,000 million euros, in this case, 40% more compared to 2019.

Carlos Abade reinforced that 2023 was, in fact, a record year and that the perspective for 2024 "is that this growth movement continues", highlighting that last year Portugal was 7.6% away from reaching the estimates that had been made for revenues in the sector for 2027 (27 billion euros).

In this context, the president of Turismo de Portugal said that the expectation is that conflicts such as the one in the Middle East will not have "an impact from the point of view of growth in visits and growth in value for Portugal in the context of tourism".