Compared to other European territories, Portugal's tourism has been recovering well from the brunt of the covid-19 pandemic. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), Portugal might even surpass pre-pandemic levels next year -2023. If compared to 2019 levels, it has seen a rise of nearly 4.8% above.
According to reports, in 2021, the number of tourists who visited Portugal was 5.9 million. However, in 2020, the scores were low as Portugal recovered just 3.9 million. Whereas in 2019, a total of 16.4 million passengers visited the tourist destination.
Bernardo Trindade, AHP’s president, said in an interview that the recovery of the tourism sector in Portugal was happening faster mainly due to its location which was far from the war ravaging Ukraine and people’s view of the country as a safe place to visit. According to the global Tourism’s latest data, Travel & Tourism’s GDP is believed to grow at an average of 3.4% annually over the decade, which is three times more than the overall growth of the economy of the country.
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By 2032, the tourism sector is expected to provide approximately 1,93,000 jobs – with an average of 19,00 new jobs every year. This will make more than 1.1 million people employed, reveals the report.
Looking at the other side of the same coin, things are not so rosy. At present, Portugal is facing two major issues – shortages of staff and inflation. According to reports, this year, hotels and restaurants hired 2,66,600 people in the first quarter. Although it is 45,200 more compared to last year but it is still 33,200 less compared to the first three months of 2019.
