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Tourist Accommodations Host 460k Guests for 946.8k Overnight Stays in April 2021

14 June 2021

Tourism in Portugal grew in April, though it remains far below the same period in 2019.

The tourist accommodation sector hosted 460,0000 guests for a total of 946,800 overnight stays in April 2021, up by 762.6% and 510.8%, compared to the same month in 2020, when the first lockdown had practically shut down the country (vs -59.6% and -67.1% in March, in the same order).

The number of guests fell by 80.3%, and overnight stays dropped 84.2% compared to April 2019. Overnight stays by the Portuguese rose by 517.0% (-20.8% in March), while non-resident overnight stays grew by 496.5% (-86.7% in the previous month). Compared to April 2019, stays fell by 60.3% and 93.5%, respectively. The net bed occupancy rate (12.9%) increased by 6.1 percentage points (-7.1 p.p. in March).

Tourist accommodation establishments reported receipts of 47.7 million euros and 35.9 million euros for accommodation, up 838.0% and 696.4%, respectively (-73.5% and -71.5% in March). Total income decreased by 85.8%, and the income related to rooms decreased by 85.6%, compared to April 2019.

The data calculated by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) revealed that the average income per available room (RevPAR) stood at 10.8 euros in April versus 7.4 euros in March. The average revenue per occupied room (ADR) reached 61.9 euros in April (51.0 euros in March). In April 2019, RevPAR and ADR stood at €45.5 and €81.3, respectively.

According to the report, there was a 70.1% decrease in total overnight stays in the first four months of the year, stemming from drops of 39.0% for residents and 85.6% for non-residents. During this period, total income registered decreases of 73.6% and 72.3% regarding room nights. Considering all types of accommodation (tourist accommodation establishments, camping and holiday camps, and youth hostels), between January and April, 1.4 million guests and 3.3 million overnight stays were recorded, corresponding to changes of -65.9% and -67.2%, respectively.

Lisbon was the highlight, accounting for ¼ of the overnight stays in April. The Lisbon Metropolitan Area concentrated 24.4% of nights spent in April, followed by the North (19.7%), the Centre (15.5%) and Algarve (14.9%).

The regions that showed the lowest decreases in the number of nights spent in the first four months of the year were Alentejo (-38.4%), Azores (-45.5%), Centre (-56.7%) and North (-63.6%), while the remaining regions showed decreases of over 70%.

Every region reported declines in the number of nights spent by residents, with the smallest drops coming in the Autonomous Region of Madeira (-20.1%), the Autonomous Region of the Azores (-23.8%) and the Alentejo (-26.6%). In the first four months of the year, the Alentejo registered a reduction of 64.6% in the number of nights spent by non-residents, while the other regions showed decreases of over 70%.

Translation: Richard D. K. Turner