Speaking to Lusa, Cristina Siza Vieira, executive vice-president of the association, said that the entity is “monitoring” the development of the planned projects, but noted that they should take place over several years.

The person in charge was commenting on a report in Público about the growth in the number of hotels, based on data from the Lisbon Tourism Association Observatory and Porto City Council.

Citing data from the consultancy Lodging Econometrics, Cristina Siza Vieira said that Portugal appears in fifth place among European countries, with 113 projects in the ‘pipeline’.

According to national sources, Lisbon has 55 projects and Porto has 108 in the approved pipeline, which may go ahead, but may also not go ahead, she noted.

There are also 27 units planned in other municipalities in the Metropolitan Region of Lisbon.

Cristina Siza Vieira said that the hotel supply in Lisbon, if all these projects come to fruition, by 2026 or 2027, will grow by 15% and the supply in Porto will grow by 35%.

However, she indicated that AHP's conviction “is that this will be much more diluted over time than it apparently seems”, pointing to Lisbon airport's lack of capacity to transport more tourists to the city and the country.

Asked about the impact on prices of making more rooms available, the AHP vice president said she does not believe this will happen.

“Indeed, Lisbon’s positioning is already high and these international brands operate at very high prices, so they themselves will not lower their prices,” she said.

On the contrary, the person in charge understands that “the prices of 4-star [hotels], for example, could increase”.

“All international studies proved that our 5-star [hotels] were not pulling enough from all the supply and that is precisely why these international brands are going to enter the luxury segment and push prices up,” she indicated.