In the 1st quarter 2015, residents in Portugal made around 3.7 million tourist trips, which stood for an increase of 4.1% in relation to the same quarter of 2014 (in the preceding quarter the year-on-year change rate was 1.7%).
Trips made to «visit relatives or friends» concentrated the largest number of trips: 47.6% of the total. However, «Leisure, recreation or holidays» were the main motivations to travel in 35.0% of trips (+10.2 p.p. vis-à-vis the 1st quarter 2014) and contributed the most for the total growth.
The most sought after type of accommodation kept being «free private accommodation» which corresponded to 65.8% of the total overnight stays. Nevertheless the largest increase came from «Hotels and similar accommodation» that have increased their relative weight in 7.7 p.p. in view of the 1st quarter 2014.
The number of tourist trips made by residents with a foreign destination have increased (+31.4%) substantially more than domestic trips (+1.6%), recording a steep increase in the number of airplane trips (+51.6%).