The tourism boom in Portugal has made the industry one of the biggest contributors to the economy and the largest employer of the country, with almost 1 million direct and indirect jobs.
For long, Portugal has been popular for its beautiful beaches, historic sites and golf courses, but tourism has broken records in the past few years after the country’s government and businesses considered the tourism sector as an engine of growth after the 2011-14 debt crises.
Gloria Guevara, the President of the WTTC, said that Portugal was already in the top five most-visited countries in Europe, and now “they should make sure that they continue as one of the top five”.
Compared to the neighbouring European countries, Portugal has not witnessed terror attacks, violence and political unrests, which discourage visitors from parts of the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa.
With Portugal starting to climb the ranks of Europe’s most popular destinations, Guevara urged the country to adopt measures for taking care of dangers like over tourism seen in cities like Barcelona. That includes investment on infrastructure such as potentially a new Lisbon airport.
Portugal’s tourism sector has the potential to grow further, thanks to a “very rich culture, amazing gastronomy,” and its geographic position with a long coastline and sunny climate.
Portugal won the top destination spot in the 2017 World Travel Awards after the number of foreign tourists jumped 12 per cent to 12.7 million. Considering domestic tourists, the total is about 21 million.
“It’s (Portugal) competitive. Do I see it as a cheap destination? No I don’t, but I think price is good, they need to maintain the quality,” said Guevara, who is from Mexico.
Guevara added that “If they (Portugal) continue doing what they are doing, another 100,000 jobs will be created,” speaking about tourism, which has become the country’s largest economic sector.
