2023 exceeds expectations by Neoturis

The year 2023 should be considered the first complete and normalized post-pandemic year. And while the good figures for 2022 are partly justified by the revenge spending of an overwhelming majority of the population confined in 2020 and 2021, the figures for 2023 cannot have the same underlying explanation.

As 2023 draws to a close, what is your first assessment of the tourist year? Without a doubt, an excellent year for Portugal. Let’s see:

• Up until September 2023, the total number of overnight stays in Portugal was 61.1 million, compared to 56.2 million in 2019, an increase of 8.7% compared to the year before the pandemic.
• In the first 9 months of 2023, total revenue from accommodation corresponding to overnight stays totalled €4.8 billion, 37% more than the €3.5 billion recorded in 2019. This is a very enlightening figure in terms of the capacity to attract demand and the qualification of the national tourist offer.

It can therefore only be considered a positive year for the national hotel industry, with revenue increasing well above inflation and operating margins increasing. The biggest challenges that 2023 presented to national hoteliers were (1) attracting and retaining human resources (2) the increase in operating costs, through higher wages, raw materials or energy and (3) the beginning of the impact of the effect of rising interest rates, particularly on national demand and for more leveraged groups.

In short, 2023 having passed, we can anticipate a 2024 with demand in line with previous years (unless the economic situation degrades more significantly than expected in Europe and the US), but perhaps with an average hotel price that doesn’t evolve with the same dynamics as in recent years; a relative stabilization of prices is, therefore, likely. As far as the hotel product is concerned, we think it will be a
year of new hotel openings, by national and international brands, maintaining the trajectory of qualification of the offer, as well as reinforcing investment in existing units with the aim of maintaining or improving the product and the average prices charged.

Eduardo Abreu – Partner of neoturis

Neoturis is a consulting, strategic and business company, aimed at monitoring the tourism, entertainment and leisure sector. In operation since November 2000, the objective is to exclusively support companies, public and private, in initiatives and opportunities associated with the sector.

Subscribe our blog!