Lisbon, June 29, 2026 (Lusa) - Zero – the Sustainable Earth System Association – said on Monday that air arrivals are contributing to rising house rents in Portugal and called for a change to the country’s tourism development model.
The environmental organisation cites a new study on the economic impacts of the growth in air transport and tourism published by the European Federation for Transport and Environment (T&E), of which ZERO is a member.
The study “shows that the continuous increase in air arrivals not only exacerbates environmental and climate impacts, but also contributes to pressure on the housing market, reduces productive investment in the economy and does not ensure a significant improvement in wages or the quality of life of the population”, it added in a statement.
House prices and rents are sensitive to the arrival of international tourists, regardless of the mode of transport used, but the study isolates the contribution of air travel, noting that Portugal is among the countries likely to face “one of the greatest pressures on house prices and rents”.
According to Zero, the analysis estimates that “the average annual rent for homes in Portugal, in areas under the greatest tourist pressure, will rise by €193 per year for new tenancy agreements over the next five years (2026–2031)”.
The environmentalists stress that these findings heighten their concerns regarding “the expansion of airport capacity in the Lisbon region”.
“In addition to the well-known impacts in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, noise, air pollution, biodiversity loss and pressure on urban infrastructure, there is now an economic effect that is often overlooked: the worsening of the housing crisis and the pressure of tourism on the region.”
Furthermore, the study also shows that “the pressure exerted by the growth in tourism linked to air traffic on rising house prices may have negative effects on the productivity of the Portuguese economy”, citing projections indicating that business investment could fall by 0.5% in the period 2019–2031, which corresponds, in absolute terms, “to an estimated loss of around €200 million per year”.
In this context, Zero argues that “Portugal should gear its public policy towards improving the quality of tourism rather than its unlimited expansion”, maintaining that the country “will benefit more from a model based on the quality of tourism, environmental sustainability, the protection of affordable housing and the diversification of its economic base than from a strategy focused on maximising the number of flights and passengers”.
It points out that this choice is “fully in line with the National Strategy for Sustainable Tourism, which prioritises the creation of greater economic, social and environmental value rather than simply increasing visitor numbers”.
To encourage more sustainable tourism, Zero suggests considering the introduction of “a levy charged to passengers when they leave the country by air”, which already exists in several European countries.
This departure tax “could help to internalise part of the environmental and social costs associated with air travel and generate revenue to be used for enhancing cultural and natural heritage, improving environmental quality, strengthening sustainable mobility and upskilling the tourism sector itself”, it added.
PAL/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
