Tourism in Rural Areas and Lodging Tourism | 2020

The pandemic that affected the world, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, with the highest incidence during 2020, prompted several lockdown periods, decreed by the various governments, which led to border closures, as well as fully or partially, of many companies.

Accommodation Capacity and Average Lenght of Stay

Tourists, as a result of this calamity situation, sought, when possible, to spend a few days of leisure in a sheltered environment, with family, in Tourism in Rural Areas and Lodging Tourism (TRA-LT) units, hence the rise of the Average Stay in the Easter period (5.40 nights, on average), which took place in April.

Graph 1 - Average Length of Stay (nights)| Monthly

Notice: The average stay is calculated based on the ratio between the number of overnight stays and guests and may not coincide with the months of greatest demand.

Overnight Stays and Guests

The high season concentrated 60.3 % of the total number of nights spent, or 800.0 thousand. The predominant movement in TRA-LT units is of resident guests who, in terms of the nights generated, reached a share of 78.6 %, equivalent to 1,016.9 thousand nights spent. The Norte region (402.4 thousand nights spent), Alentejo (380.8 thousand) and Centro (290.1 thousand) concentrated 83.0 % of the country’s movement.

The top 10 foreign markets that together generated 245.0 thousand nights (88.5 % of the total nights spent by non-residents, which in 2020 were 276.9 thousand).

Graph 2 - Overnight Stays and Guests | Monthly

Notice: High season: July to September; mid season: April to June and October; low season: January to March and November and December.

Revenue

Also for total revenue, the months relating to the high season concentrated 61.7 % of the annual value, i.e. EUR 51.3 million (-5.1 % compared to the same period in 2019). The Alentejo region (EUR 25.5 million), Norte (EUR 24.5 million) and Centro (EUR 17.9 million) centralised 81.6 % of the revenue recorded in the country.

With regard to the values of average revenue generated per night (Graph 3), it appears that, with the exception of April and May, the amounts for 2020 are always higher than in 2019.

Graph 3 — Average Revenue per Overnight Stay| Monthly

Notice: Average revenue per overnight stay results from the ratio between revenue from accommodation and overnight stays

More information in the interactive report

Source: Statistics Portugal, definitive data