The tourist accommodation sector registered 3.3 million guests and 8.4 million overnight stays in September 2024, corresponding to variations of +2.8% and +2.4%, respectively (+5.9% and +3.9% in August 2024, in the same order). Residents’ overnight stays fell slightly (-0.3%) to 2.3 million, while those spent by non-residents increased by 3.5%, totaling 6.1 million.

In external markets, the British remained the main one (19.8% share), with a slight increase (+0.2%) in September, followed by Germany (11.9% share), which fell by 1.9%. Among the top 10 main inbound markets in September, Canada and United States stood out with growth rates of 14.6% and 13.5%, respectively.

All regions recorded an increase in overnight stays, with the biggest increases being recorded in RA Açores (+9.0%), the Centro (+6.2%) and the Norte (+4.6%). RA Madeira and Algarve showed more modest growth rates (+0.1% and +0.9%, respectively).

Occupancy in tourist accommodation establishments reached, in September, 57.5% and 69.7% in net bed and room occupancy rates, respectively (-0.2 p.p. and +0.3 p.p., in the same order).

In the third quarter of 2024, the number of overnight stays rose by 3.0% (+2.9% in the second quarter). Residents’ overnight stays rose by 1.1% (-0.7% in the second quarter) and those spent by non-residents increased by 3.9% (+4.3% in the previous quarter). Since the beginning of the year, overnight stays have increased by 3.9%, +1.3% for residents and +5.0% for non-residents.

It is important to remember that the second quarter results were affected by the mobile structure of the calendar, i.e. the effect of the holiday period associated with Easter, which this year was split between March (first quarter) and April (second quarter), whereas last year it was concentrated in the second quarter only.