The data comes from Eurostat and reveals that the trend has increased after the recovery from the pandemic, having grown by 19.07% in 2023 compared to the previous year.

Tourism, through bookings on the platforms Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia Group and TripAdvisor, continued to break records last year and does not seem to be slowing down, according to data from the European Statistics Agency.

In 2023, Portugal was the fifth country in the European Union (EU) with the most reservations for short-term accommodation booked through platforms, with more than 39.5 million nights, only surpassed by France (159.1 million nights), Spain (141 million), Italy (107.3 million) and Germany (49.3 million). Despite this scenario, between 2022 and 2023, the Portuguese market recorded the eighth lowest growth rate, with the highest being achieved by Malta (46.8%), a country that has been emerging as a tourism destination in recent years. The growth recorded in Portugal was close to the European Union average, whose rate rose by 20.52%.

The data – which result from a data-sharing agreement signed between Eurostat and the four online platforms – reveal that, in 2023, of the 20 most sought-after regions, six are in Spain and France, five in Italy, two in Portugal and one in Croatia.

The most popular regions for short-term accommodation booked through online platforms were Andalusia in Spain (35.6 million nights), Jadranska Hrvatska in Croatia (32.6 million), and the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (24.9 million).

The Lisbon Metropolitan Area ranks 12th on this list and the Algarve 15th, with over 11.9 million and over 10.4 million, respectively. The peak in nights booked on the platforms in both regions was recorded during the month of August.