The United States could soon become the number one source of tourists for Portugal if current trends continue. The first half of 2024 saw a 15% increase in American visitors to Portugal, compared to the same period in 2023. This means 1.08 million US tourists went to Portugal over the first six months of the year. And if we look across the last two years, the increase in US visitors is so marked that it has almost doubled, rocketing from 584,700 in the first half of 2022 to over a million tourists.
US visitors only just behind UK and growing faster
In fact, the US figures are only just behind the quantity of tourists from the UK, Portugal’s traditional number-one source market. The UK supplied 1.2 million in the same time period. That represents a relative slowdown in British visitors, whose numbers were only 6% up since the previous year. The changes are causing commentators to assume that if the relative growth figures continue, the US will soon be supplying more visitors to Portugal than the UK does.
What’s more, Uncle Sam already sends more visitors to the Portuguese capital Lisbon than any other nation. And Portuguese residency and investment firm Belion had noted earlier this year that US visitors had “increased their spending in Portugal by 18.2% compared to the same period last year and is now the fourth largest market in Portugal’s tourism sector, surpassing the Spanish. US tourists contributed €692.2 million to the Portuguese economy, while Spanish contributed €678.4 million.”
Biggest spenders
Meanwhile, UK citizens who, thanks to “long-standing diplomatic relations” between the UK and Portugal, have long been the biggest spenders there, shelling out €960.2 million between January and April – a colossal million plus more than the nearest spenders, Germany at €800.4 million.
When it comes to overnight visitors though, the US remains in fifth place and supplied “only” 2.35 million overnight stays in the first half of 2024, which is four places behind the UK in the number one spot, with Germany, and neighbouring Spain and France also ahead in second, third and fourth respectively.
Overall, according to the national office for statistics, Portugal opened its arms to 14.4 million tourists across the country during the first six months of 2024, a figure that represents 5.6% growth since 2023 for the western European gem, something Belion has described as “a significant boom”.