According to data published by the National Institute of Statistics(ENI)Tourism contributed 1.1 percentage points to real GDP growth in 2023, or 2.3%.
In this context, “it is estimated that in 2023, tourism consumption had a total contribution (direct and indirect) of 12.7% (€33.8 billion) to GDP and 12.4% (€28.7 billion) to VAB.” [Valeur ajoutée brute] “For the national economy,” reveals the Portuguese Statistical Office.
The Tourism Satellite Account for last year also indicates that the Gross Value Added by Tourism (VABGT) and the Tourism Consumption of the Economic Territory (CTTE) recorded nominal increases of 16.0% and 15.5% respectively, “revealing a greater dynamism than that of the economic territory.” The national economy (GVA and GDP increased by 10.1% and 9.6% respectively).
These two indicators reach historic levels, with tourism consumption representing 16.5% of GDP in 2023 and 9.1% of national GVA in 2023 (8.6% in 2022).
Tourism GDP increased by 15.2% in nominal terms compared to 2022 and by 33.1% compared to the pre-pandemic period (2019), although the National Institute of Statistics confirms that inflation had an impact on the figures: However, the National Institute of Statistics confirms that inflation had an impact on the figures: “There was a strong impact on prices during this period, so that tourism GDP in volume terms should have been 13.5% higher than the 2019 figures. These figures therefore show that the sector has already recovered from the pandemic, which led to a significant decline in tourism. The National Institute of Statistics indicates that “CTTE and VABGT recorded higher values in 2022 compared to previous years, which were again exceeded in 2023, in line with historical peaks.” In international comparison, for which data are only available for 2022, Portugal is the second country with the highest relative importance of tourism demand in GDP (15.6%), surpassed only by Iceland (17.4%).
