According to the results of the Survey on International Tourism, conducted by Statistics Portugal throughout the main air, road and maritime borders, the estimation for inbound tourist arrivals totalled 18.2 million in 2016. To this number, 10.1 million inbound one-day visitor arrivals (without overnight stay) should be added, reaching a total of 28.3 million inbound visitor arrivals.
From the total tourist arrivals, the emphasis went to 4.7 million residents in Spain (25.6% of the total), 3.1 million in the United Kingdom (17.2%), 2.7 million in France (14.7%) and 1.6 million in Germany (8.5%).
Considering the inbound one-day visitor arrivals, Spain had a 74.0% share, corresponding to 7.5 million one-day visitor arrivals, followed by the United Kingdom with 9.0% and France with 5.2%.
The air frontier was used for 73.1% of tourist arrivals and 1.6% of one-day visitor arrivals. The road frontier was the choice for 26.8% of tourist arrivals and 88.8% of one-day visitor arrivals. The maritime frontier (cruise ships) provided the entrance in Portugal of around 1 million one-day visitors (9.7% of total).
Results showed that 70.3% of the tourist arrivals were motivated by leisure, recreation or holiday and 19.9% occurred due to the purpose of visiting relatives or friends, while professional reasons originated 7.7% of the tourist arrivals.