Portuguese tourism on track for a historic year, says WTTC

19-07-23

The World Travel & Tourism Council's (WTTC) Economic Impact Study (EIR) 2023 reveals that the Portuguese travel and tourism sector is expected to surpass the peak reached in 2019 this year.

According to the report, the sector will contribute €40.4 billion to the Portuguese economy by the end of 2023, surpassing the pre-pandemic 2019 peak of €40.1 billion.

WTTC also forecasts that the sector will create around 30,000 jobs this year, just 68,000 jobs below the 2019 level of just over one million, to reach 950,000 employed by Travel & Tourism.

Last year, the Travel & Tourism sector's contribution to GDP grew by 61.6% to almost €38 billion, representing 15.8% of the Portuguese economy.

The sector also created 83,000 more jobs than the previous year, reaching 921,000 jobs nationally.

The latest report from the world tourism body shows that the sector has already recovered more than 90% of the pre-pandemic employment level. 

Last year also saw the return of international travellers to Portugal, with Spain (16%), France (12%), the UK (11%), and Germany and the US (both 8%) leading the way as source markets for international arrivals to Portugal. 

According to the data, in 2022, international visitor spending contributed €21.7 billion to the national economy, representing an astonishing 80.4% year-on-year growth, and only 7.7% behind 2019 levels.

The global tourism body expects the sector to increase its contribution to GDP to €56.4 billion by 2033, representing more than a fifth (21.1%) of the Portuguese economy.

Over the next decade, Travel & Tourism could employ more than 1.2 million people across the country, with one in four people working in the sector.

In 2022, the European Travel & Tourism sector contributed €1.9 trillion to the regional economy, just 7% below the peak in 2019. WTTC forecasts the regional sector's GDP contribution to reach €2.04 trillion in 2023 and within striking distance of the 2019 peak.

The sector employed 34.7 million people across the region in 2022, up 2.9 million from the previous year, but still 3.2 million behind the 2019 peak. WTTC expects the sector to fully recover the jobs lost during the pandemic by the end of 2024.