Tourists from countries less usual are increasingly frequent in Central Portugal. This is one of the conclusions that can be drawn from reading the latest data of the National Institute of statistics (INE), regarding the origin of those who visited the region between January and September 2017.
The country that stands out in the analysis is Poland. In the first nine months of the year, the number of nights spent by citizens from this country more than doubled, em comparação com o mesmo período de 2016: registou um crescimento de 131,66%, para 121.057 dormidas! No less remarkable is the increase in overnight stays with origins in Italy, que cresceu 73,72%, para 183.301; Estados Unidos, which rose 69,18%, para 101.202; e Brasil, I progressed 46,74%, para 149.648.
In absolute values, It turns out that Spain continues, naturalmente, being the country where most visitors arrive to the Centre of Portugal, com um total de 536.737 overnight stays of the neighboring country between January and September (share of 14,10). Em segundo lugar, the French (302.526, share of 7,95). The big surprise is Italy, that is already the third country issuer of overnight stays for the region, com uma quota de 4,81. Seguem-se, por esta ordem, Brasil, Alemanha, Polónia, Estados Unidos, Reino Unido, Holland and Scandinavia. Point out that the nights spent by visitors from other countries that do not form part of this "top ten" grew, globally, 38,20%, which means every time tourists from less traditional countries to let yourself be enchanted by the Centro de Portugal.
Important is the fact that the total number of foreign visitors to be virtually identical to the national, in overnight stays in the Centre of Portugal: 2,21 million out of the country and 2,27 millions of domestic tourists. The internal market has grown 2,65% (+58.578 dormidas) and the external market 27,39% (+475.221 dormidas). No total, between January- September 2016 and January-September 2017, for the record the increase of 533.799 dormidas.
This true foreign "invasion" in the Centre of Portugal is reflected, as it should be, very positively on revenue of hotel establishments. Assim, in the period January-September 2017, the overall income of the tourist units grew 17,9%, para 212,6 milhões de euros, relativamente ao mesmo período do ano passado. The same happens in the yield of each room available (+19,6%) and in the occupancy rate of rooms, which rose 4,7%.
