U.S. market is growing at double digits for the Portuguese hotel industry

Thursday, 02 September 2010 20:16

The U.S. market grew in the first half of 2010 by 15.9% in terms of hotel guests in Portugal and 10.5% in the number of overnight stays. The average stay was 2.18 nights. It all ads up to 264,121 room nights for American tourists in Portuguese hotels in the first 6 months of 2010, according to data from Turismo de Portugal.  Nationally, 165,892 were in Lisbon, Algarve 28,691, 24,435 in Porto, 17,594 in the Centro Region, 12,711 in the Azores, Madeira had 8,754 and  finally 5,954 in the Alentejo. By percentage, the Azores was the fastest growing region where the number of American guests was up+27.3% over a year ago, and two other regions also had increases above 20%, including the Centro, with +25.7% and Lisbon, with +24.8%. Then came the Alentejo, with +17.8% up, and the Algarve, with an increase of +13.1%, while Porto/Norte and Madeira reported declines of 21.9% and 3.7% respectively. Nights spent by tourists from the U.S. To Centro had the strongest growth in percentage, with +26.8%, ahead of the Azores, with +19.3%, Lisbon, +16.2%, and the Algarve, with +6%. Madeira is the region where American tourists spent on average more time (4.19 nights) and the Alentejo is where they had a shorter stays (1.54).