Lisbon responsible for one-fifth of all Portugal’s tourists

Portugal’s capital Lisbon concentrates one-fifth of all tourists who visit the country and with 7.5 million overnight stays makes it one of the Europe’s most sought after city break destinations.

With the eyes of the world’s media on the city following Wednesday evening’s tragic funicular accident in the city’s downtown shopping district resulting in the dearth of 16 and 22 injured, the number of hotel and accommodation bookings to June stood at 3.3 million guests and 7.5 million overnight stays.

The city’s hotels and other accommodation such as bed and breakfast and Air BnB establishment put up 3.3 million visitors between January and June according to data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) – A 2% increase on the same period in 2024.

However, the post-Covid boom in travelling seems to be cooling with hotel and accommodation booking patterns moving back towards level seen before 2019.

Tourists stay for two nights on average in Lisbon’s hotels and accommodation with 7.5 million overnight stays in the first six months of the year, making it among the most visited municipalities in the country.

Specialists interviewed by the business source Negócios thought that the accident would not have a serious impact on tourism in the city since people understand that it was an accident and accidents happen all over the world.

Tourism statistics show that the majority of visitors who stay overnight in Lisbon are foreigners (81.9%) with the capital being more dependent on foreign visitors than other cites and towns in Portugal.

And tourism sector revenues in Lisbon increased 11.2% to €1.6Bn in 2024. Yet foreign tourist overnight stays represent 60% of all overnight stays registered in Portugal’s tourism accommodation market but 20% less than Lisbon at 81.9%.

In the first half of 2025 all accommodation welcomed 14.9 million guests with 36.4 million overnight stays.

The British are the single nationality that most visits Portugal, followed by the Germans and Spanish, but in Lisbon the Americans, Spanish and Brazilians are the nationalities that most visit te capital.

Source: Jornal de Negócios