In the 4th quarter 2018, residents in Portugal took a total of 5.1 million trips, corresponding to an increase of 6.3% (+0.1% in the 3rdQ and +2.1% in the 2ndQ). Destinations in Portugal grew by 3.6% (+0.3% in the 3rdQ), concentrating 87.8% of total trips, while trips abroad increased by 30.8% (-1.3% in the 3rdQ), raising its weight by 2.3 p.p. (12.2%).
“Visit to relatives or friends” was the main reason to travel, reaching 2.5 million trips, with a 4.1% reduction (-5.3 p.p. in its representativeness, that was 49.3% of the total). The reason “leisure, recreation or holidays” corresponded to 1.8 million trips (+14.9%), representing 35.9% of the total (+2.7 p.p.).
“Hotels and similar establishments” were chosen in 21.9% of overnight stays in the 4thQ, increasing the respective share by 6.3 p.p. “Free private accommodation”, although remaining as the main accommodation option (70.5% of overnight stays), lost representativeness (-9.2 p.p.).
Considering the whole year of 2018, the number of trips by residents rose by 4.2% (+5.0% in 2017), totalling 22.1 millions. Trips in Portugal increased by 3.2% and trips abroad grew by 13.3% (+4.1% and +13.1%, respectively in 2017).