According to Publituris, in January 2025, tourism in Portugal registered 1.6 million guests and 3.7 million overnight stays, corresponding to growth of 8.3% and 6.3%, respectively (+3.4% and +2.6% in December 2024, in the same order), according to data released by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

With regards to guests, non-residents continue to be predominant, totaling 857 thousand, representing a growth of 6.8% compared to 802 thousand in the same period in 2024.

The numbers relating to national guests registered even greater growth (+10.1%), totaling close to 749 thousand at the end of the first month of 2025.

It is worth noting that all regions recorded increases in the number of guests in January. Setúbal Peninsula (+17.3%), Azores (+15%) and Alentejo (+10.7%) were the regions that grew in double digits, with the region that received the most guests being Lisbon with 504 thousand (+7.5%), followed by Porto and the North with 390 thousand (+8.5%).

Of the 857 thousand guests that Portugal received in the first month of 2025, Spain led with more than 104 thousand, followed by the United Kingdom with 84 thousand and Brazil with almost 78 thousand.

Regarding overnight stays, the INE indicates, as already mentioned, an increase of 6.3% compared to January 2024, with overnight stays by non-residents totaling almost double those of residents. Thus, overnight stays by foreigners totaled 2.4 million, corresponding to an increase of 3.8% compared to the same period in 2024, while overnight stays by residents increased by 11.3% to 1.270 million.

Also in this parameter, it is worth highlighting the fact that all regions recorded growth in overnight stays, with Lisbon being the only one to surpass the one million mark (1.071 million, i.e. +5.5%).

The regions that grew the most, compared to January 2024, were the Setúbal Peninsula (+14.4%), Alentejo (+11.4%) and the Azores (+10.2%).

The INE indicates that the 10 main issuing markets, in January, represented 70.5% of the total number of overnight stays by non-residents in this month, with the British market remaining the largest (14.6% of the total number of overnight stays by non-residents in January), despite the 3.3% decrease compared to the same month last year.

Overnight stays in the German market, the second largest issuing market in January (11.2% of the total), grew by 5.1%. This was followed by the Spanish market, in 3rd position (8.4% share), with growth of 0.8%.

In the group of the 10 main issuing markets in January, the Polish market recorded the greatest growth (+16.6% to 97 thousand overnight stays), followed by the United States of America (+10.3%, to 173 thousand overnight stays). In contrast, the French (-9.6%, to 138 thousand) and Brazilian (-8.8%, to 174 thousand) markets recorded decreases.

What locations were most popular for overnight stays?

The municipality of Lisbon accounted for 24.3% of the total overnight stays, reaching 892.8 thousand (+5.2%, after +2.2% in December). Overnight stays by residents increased by 5.7% and those by non-residents grew by 5.1%. This municipality accounted for 30.8% of the total overnight stays by non-residents in January.

Funchal was the municipality with the second-highest number of overnight stays (431.9 thousand overnight stays, representing 11.8%) and recorded growth of 3.1% (+5.2% in December). Overnight stays by residents increased significantly (+34.0%), while those by non-residents decreased by 1.1%. This municipality accounted for 15.2% of the total number of overnight stays by non-residents in January.

In Porto, overnight stays totalled 319.2 thousand (8.7% of the total), with growth of 6.4% (+4.6% in December), with contributions from overnight stays by residents (+16.8%) and non-residents (+3.6%).

Among the top 10 municipalities, Santa Cruz in Madeira (2% of the total) stood out, with a growth of 17.2% (+20.2% for residents and +16.8% for non-residents) and Vila Nova de Gaia (1.5% of the total), with an increase of 16.8% (+3.9% for residents and +32.2% for non-residents). Albufeira and Portimão recorded the largest decreases in January (-9.8% and -7.5%, respectively).

In terms of overnight stays by residents, significant growth was also recorded in January in the municipalities of Portimão and Vila Real de Santo António (+25.9% and +23.4%, respectively). In these municipalities, overnight stays by non-residents fell by 16.8% in Portimão and increased by 3.2% in Vila Real de Santo António.