Lisbon, April 28, 2026 (Lusa) – Residents’ tourist travel in Portugal rose by 13.7% in 2025, reaching a record of 26.05 million trips, exceeding pre-pandemic levels for the first time (24.5 million trips in 2019), Statistics Portugal (INE) announced on Tuesday.
Provisional figures from the INE indicate that in 2025, domestic travel grew by 14% to just under 22.2 million trips, accounting for 85.2% of the total, and international travel increased by 12.5% to a record 3.858 million trips.
Leisure, recreation, or holidays remained the primary motivation for travel at home and abroad, accounting for 50.2% of total trips (13.1 million, +12.3% compared to 2024).
This was followed by visits to family or friends, which accounted for 37.5% of travel (9.8 million trips, +13.1% compared to 2024), and business and professional trips accounted for 7.0% of the total (1.8 million), recording the largest increase compared to 2024 at 23.9%.
Since 2016, residents’ trips abroad have grown by an average of 7.9% annually, whilst domestic travel has grown by an average of 2.2% annually.
According to INE, free private accommodation remained the main form of accommodation in 2025, albeit with a lower share (58.4%, down 1% compared to 2024).
Hotels and similar establishments accounted for 25.3% of total overnight stays (+0.7% compared to 2024), and paid private accommodation accounted for 12.2% of total overnight stays.
The average trip duration was 3.9 nights (4.07 nights in 2024), the lowest since 2016.
Spain (38.8%; -1.8%), France (9.7%; +0.2%) and Italy (6.3%; +0.1%) remained, in 2025, the main destinations for residents’ trips abroad.
Trips to European Union countries increased by 9.7%, accounting for 69.7% of the total (-1.8%).
The North remained the main destination for domestic travel in 2025, accounting for 23.8% of total travel, despite a 1.2% decrease from 2024, followed by the Centre region (22.1%; +0.1%).
Meanwhile, the West and Tagus Valley stood out for the largest increase in share, up 1.9% to 12.8% of the total, the same as the Algarve.
In 2025, half of the resident population (50.3%) made at least one tourist trip, an increase of 1.6% compared to 2024 (an additional 240,500 tourists).
In 2025 Q4, the number of residents' trips taken rose by 13.2% (+8.0% in Q3) and exceeded 6 million for the first time in the final quarter of 2025.
According to INE, this growth resulted from increases in domestic travel (+12.8%; +9.1% in Q2) and trips abroad (+15.7%; +2.1% in Q3).
Visiting family or friends remained the main reason for travel in 2025 Q4, accounting for 2.9 million trips (+15.3%) and 48% of the total (+0.9% compared to 2024 Q4).
Trips for leisure, recreation or holidays also rose by 14.6% to 2.3 million (38.1% of the total, up 0.5% compared with 2024 Q4).
Trips for professional or business reasons rose by 6.4%, totalling 438,500 (7.3% of the total, down 0.5% in 2024 Q4).
In 2025 Q4, free private accommodation accounted for 70% of overnight stays (13.5 million), with each trip lasting an average of 3.22 nights (3.19 in 2024 Q4).
During the period, 23.4% of residents made at least one tourist trip, an increase of 3.3% annually.
PD/MYAL // ADB.
Lusa
