126 Porto and North Portugal Tourism Statistics August 2026

Most people still file Porto under "the other Portuguese city." The numbers stopped supporting that a while ago. In 2025 the North grew its overnight stays faster than any other region in the country, while the Algarve went backwards, and Porto now takes a larger share of Portugal's foreign visitors than its size suggests it should.

What follows is every figure we could trace to the organisation that actually produced it. No roundups, no republished numbers, no statistics whose trail dead-ends at somebody else's blog post. Where a stat could not be verified against the primary document, it is not here, and there are several notable absences for exactly that reason.

Every citation links to the source report itself. This page is refreshed monthly as Statistics Portugal, Turismo de Portugal and the port and airport operators publish new data.

Porto and the North in 12 Numbers

How Many People Actually Visit Porto and the North

The North is no longer the consolation prize for travellers who could not get into Lisbon. It is the region growing fastest, and it is doing it while leaning less on foreign tourists than almost anywhere else in Portugal.

How big is the North's tourism base?

The region now sits third nationally by volume and first by momentum.

• The North generated 1,528.8 thousand overnight stays in May 2026 alone, an increase of 6.7% year on year (Statistics Portugal, Jun 2026).
• Of those, 505.3 thousand came from residents, up 11.0%, and 1,023.6 thousand from non-residents, up 4.8% (Statistics Portugal, Jun 2026).
• The North took 19.1% of all Portuguese overnight stays that month (Statistics Portugal, Jun 2026).
• Together the Algarve at 26.3%, Grande Lisboa at 23.6% and the North accounted for 69.0% of the national total (Statistics Portugal, Jun 2026).
• Porto alone recorded 689.0 thousand overnight stays in May 2026, 8.6% of the national figure and a rise of 4.9% (Statistics Portugal, Jun 2026).
• Within that Porto figure, resident stays grew 19.5% against just 2.7% for non-residents (Statistics Portugal, Jun 2026).
• Porto ranked third among Portuguese municipalities that month, behind Lisboa on 1.5 million stays and Albufeira on 815.8 thousand (Statistics Portugal, Jun 2026).
• Across 2024 the North's overnight stays rose 5.9%, second only to the Azores (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2025).
• The region held 17.3% of national overnight stays in 2024, up 0.4 percentage points on the previous year (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2025).
• Nationally, non-resident arrivals to Portugal reached 29.9 million in 2025, growth of 3.3% after 9.3% the year before (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2026).
• In the first five months of 2026 Portugal drew 12 million guests and 28.7 million overnight stays (Turismo de Portugal, Jul 2026).

Where do visitors to the North come from?

The North's visitor mix is the most distinctive in Portugal, and it is the reason the region held up when British demand softened.

• Spain remains Portugal's largest source of international tourists, at 23.8% of arrivals in 2025, despite falling 0.6% (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2026).
• North American visitors to Portugal grew 6.9% in 2025 to 1,903.7 thousand, the strongest rise among named markets (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2026).
• Americans send 20.8% of their Portuguese overnight stays to the North, their clear second choice after Grande Lisboa on 49.5% (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2025).
• French visitors split their stays between Grande Lisboa on 27.4%, the Algarve on 22.1% and the North on 21.9% (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2025).
• The contrast is stark at the other end of the country: 57.6% of British overnight stays and 75.2% of Irish ones land in the Algarve (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2025).
• The United Kingdom still led non-resident overnight stays nationally in 2025 with 17.3% of the total, though its stays fell 1.7% (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2026).
• Germany followed on 11.8%, Spain on 9.4% after a 5.1% drop, and the United States closed in on 9.1% with growth of 5.3% (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2026).
• Grande Lisboa was the least dependent region on its single biggest foreign market at 16.6%, with the Alentejo at 16.7% and the North just behind (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2026).
• In the first five months of 2026 the United Kingdom supplied 12.8% of Portugal's guests and 14.3% of its accommodation revenue (Turismo de Portugal, Jul 2026).
• The United States accounted for 11.6% of guests and 11.4% of revenue over the same period, with Spain on 10.7% and 9.6% (Turismo de Portugal, Jul 2026).
• Brazil led revenue growth in May 2026 at 20.1%, with Poland up 10.2% and Germany up 8.7% in overnight stays (Turismo de Portugal, Jul 2026).

How long do people stay, and when do they come?

Two things define demand in the North: people do not stay long, and they increasingly do not come only in summer.

• The average stay in the North was 1.90 nights in 2024, well under the national average of 2.54 (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2025).
• Nationally the average stay slipped again to 2.58 nights in 2025, down 0.7% (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2026).
• Seasonality was higher among residents at 40.4% than non-residents at 34.4% in 2025 (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2026).
• The North's net bed occupancy rate reached 44.3% in 2024, below the national 48.2% (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2025).
• National bed occupancy held flat at 48.2% in 2025 while room occupancy edged up to 58.2% (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2026).
• By May 2026 national bed occupancy had fallen to 52.2%, a tenth consecutive monthly decline (Statistics Portugal, Jun 2026).
• The North was one of only two regions to improve occupancy that month, adding 0.8 percentage points (Statistics Portugal, Jun 2026).

Getting There: Air and Sea

Access capacity is what actually unlocked the North, and both the airport and the cruise terminal are still adding it.

How busy is Porto airport?

Porto's airport has quietly become one of the strongest growth stories in European regional aviation.

• Porto airport reached its highest traffic level to date in 2025 (VINCI Airports, Mar 2026).
• Traffic has grown 166% since VINCI Airports took over operations in 2012 (VINCI Airports, Mar 2026).
• More than 120 direct destinations now connect northern Portugal to Europe, the Americas and Africa (VINCI Airports, Mar 2026).
• A 50 million euro runway renovation, the largest investment ever made at the airport, ran over 19 months (VINCI Airports, Mar 2026).
• Roughly 36.0 million passengers landed at Portuguese airports in 2025, up 4.7%, with Lisbon taking 18.2 million or 50.4% of the national total (Turismo de Portugal, Dec 2025).

How many cruise passengers arrive at Leixões?

The cruise business at Leixões has changed shape as well as size: bigger ships, more first-time calls, and a genuine turnaround operation rather than a day-stop.

• Porto Cruise Terminal recorded 152 cruise calls in 2024, up 31% year on year (APDL, Jan 2025).
• Fifteen of those were maiden calls, ships visiting the terminal for the first time (APDL, Jan 2025).
• One new cruise company began calling at the port that year (APDL, Jan 2025).
• The terminal ran six turnaround operations, where passengers start and end their cruise in Porto (APDL, Jan 2025).
• Average ship size reached 8.9 million gross tonnage (APDL, Jan 2025).
• Average vessel size grew 28% compared with 2023 (APDL, Jan 2025).
• British passengers were the largest nationality at 34% of the total (APDL, Jan 2025).
• Americans followed on 24% and Germans on 23% (APDL, Jan 2025).
• September was the busiest month, with 30,409 passengers (APDL, Jan 2025).
• May brought the most calls, at 28 cruises (APDL, Jan 2025).

Where Visitors Sleep, and What It Costs

The North built beds faster than any other Portuguese region, and it did so while charging less for them than almost anywhere else.

How much accommodation does the region have?

• The North contributed 26.6% of Portugal's entire increase in tourist accommodation establishments in 2024, adding 131 of them (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2025).
• It also added more beds than any other region, 5.0 thousand of them, which was 36.5% of the national increase (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2025).
• The North started 2024 with 87,252 beds (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2025).
• Portugal had 8,778 accommodation establishments operating on 31 July 2025, an increase of 3.2% (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2026).
• Total national capacity reached 703,886 beds, up 1.6% (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2026).

What does a room actually earn?

This is where the North's position is weakest, and it is the clearest commercial gap in the region.

• National RevPAR reached 72.4 euros in 2025, up 4.4% (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2026).
• The national average daily rate was 124.5 euros, a rise of 3.7% (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2026).
• The North posted the most modest RevPAR growth of any region in 2024 at 5.1% (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2025).
• Grande Lisboa earned 106.6 euros per available room that year against a national 69.4 (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2025).
• By May 2026 national RevPAR stood at 84.0 euros and ADR at 130.9 euros (Statistics Portugal, Jun 2026).

How big is the short-stay rental layer?

Local accommodation is now a structural part of Portuguese supply rather than a fringe.

• Local accommodation held 98.2 thousand beds in 2024, 20.0% of national capacity (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2025).
• It generated 15.0% of all overnight stays in tourist accommodation (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2025).
• The average local accommodation unit held 25 beds, against 165 for a hotel establishment (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2025).
• Its RevPAR was 43.7 euros, the weakest growth of any segment at 3.2% (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2025).
• Bed occupancy in local accommodation fell 0.7 percentage points to 37.7% (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2025).

What Tourism Is Worth

Revenue is growing faster than arrivals, which is the only trend that really matters to anyone running a business here.

How much money does accommodation actually make?

• Portuguese accommodation earned 7,133.2 million euros in total revenue in 2025, up 6.9% (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2026).
• Room revenue alone came to 5,472.1 million euros, a rise of 6.6% (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2026).
• The North took 17.2% of Portugal's total accommodation revenue in May 2026 and 18.0% of room revenue (Statistics Portugal, Jun 2026).
• The region's total revenue grew 11.4% in 2024, adding 108.2 million euros (Statistics Portugal, Jul 2025).
• National accommodation revenue reached 755.7 million euros in May 2026 alone, up 5.8% (Statistics Portugal, Jun 2026).
• Portugal's tourism expenditure abroad was 7.2 billion euros in 2025, leaving a surplus of 22.0 billion (Turismo de Portugal, Dec 2025).
• That surplus grew 5.1% on the year (Turismo de Portugal, Dec 2025).
• Revenue over the first five months of 2026 reached 10.3 billion euros, up 4.5% (Turismo de Portugal, Jul 2026).
• Domestic overnight stays grew 5.0% in 2025 against 0.8% for international ones (Turismo de Portugal, Dec 2025).
• International visitors still supplied 69.5% of Portugal's overnight stays (Turismo de Portugal, Dec 2025).
• Portugal counted 32.5 million guests and 82.0 million overnight stays in tourist accommodation in 2025 (Turismo de Portugal, Dec 2025).
• American overnight stays rose 5.3% and Canadian ones 5.8% (Turismo de Portugal, Dec 2025).

What does Porto charge visitors?

• Porto's municipal tourist tax regulation took effect on 1 December 2024 (Câmara Municipal do Porto, Dec 2024).
• Children aged 12 and under are exempt from the charge (Câmara Municipal do Porto, Dec 2024).

Port Wine, the Douro and the Table

The North's most defensible tourism asset is the one nobody can build more of. The trade data shows a category selling less liquid for more money, which is exactly what a mature luxury product looks like.

How much Port wine actually sells?

• Standard Ports accounted for 5,464,611 of the nine-litre cases sold in 2025, a fall of 0.5% (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• Premium Ports accounted for 1,518,620 cases, effectively flat at a 0.1% decline (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• Total volume slipped 0.4% on the year while total value fell only 0.3% (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• Standard Ports generated 199,430,030 euros, actually rising 0.4% (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• Premium Ports generated 163,247,703 euros (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• A further 907,700 litres of modified wine made from Port were traded during the year (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• The average price across all Port sold was 5.77 euros per litre (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• Standard Ports averaged 4.05 euros per litre against 11.94 for Premium (IVDP, Dec 2025).

• Germany bought 332,711 cases in 2025, 4.7% of world volume, a fall of 3.1% (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• Belgium took 677,392 cases, 9.6% of the global total (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• Italy grew 12.5% to 69,918 cases (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• Spain rose 5.0% to 101,755 cases (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• Australia was the fastest-rising market by volume, up 78.9% to 6,906 cases (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• South Korea grew 25.4% to 37,803 cases (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• Mexico rose 53.0% to 11,649 cases (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• Ireland fell 16.6% to 26,733 cases (IVDP, Dec 2025).

Which countries actually drink Port?

• France is the largest Port market by volume, taking 1,652,325 cases or 24.5% of the total (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• Portugal itself is second by volume on 1,376,706 cases, but first by value at 78,680,220 euros (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• The Netherlands took 835,993 cases, 11.8% of global volume (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• The United Kingdom bought 649,536 cases in 2025, a rise of 6.7% (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• British buyers spent 36,730,709 euros, up 6.5%, with 69.3% of that going on Premium Ports (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• The United States took only 4.9% of volume but 9.0% of value (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• Premium Ports made up 81.0% of American spending, at 32,702,358 euros in total (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• Norway skews furthest upmarket of all, with 88.5% of its spending on Premium Ports (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• Americans pay 10.52 euros a litre on average, against 4.27 for the French (IVDP, Dec 2025).

• German buyers spent 14,495,394 euros on Port in 2025 (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• The Netherlands spent 36,075,993 euros (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• France spent 63,472,818 euros, up 1.5% (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• Canada put 82.7% of its Port spending into Premium bottles (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• Denmark's Premium share of spending reached 79.2% (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• The United Arab Emirates lifted spending 46.2% to 2,124,778 euros (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• Swiss buyers pay the highest Premium price of any market, 22.97 euros a litre (IVDP, Dec 2025).
• Chinese average prices rose 20.0% to 8.68 euros a litre (IVDP, Dec 2025).

How strong is the North's restaurant scene?

• Portugal's 2026 MICHELIN selection runs to 210 restaurants in total (MICHELIN Guide, Mar 2026).
• Nine restaurants hold two stars nationally, one of them newly promoted (MICHELIN Guide, Mar 2026).
• Porto gained four new one-star restaurants in the 2026 guide: dop, Éon, Gastro by Elemento and In Diferente (MICHELIN Guide, Mar 2026).
• Largo do Paço in Amarante and Schistó in Peso da Régua both carry stars, putting the Douro on the guide's map (MICHELIN Guide, Mar 2026).
• The guide lists 26 Bib Gourmand addresses nationally, two of them new (MICHELIN Guide, Mar 2026).
• Seven restaurants hold a MICHELIN Green Star for sustainability (MICHELIN Guide, Mar 2026).
• A further 131 restaurants are listed as recommended, 34 of them new entries (MICHELIN Guide, Mar 2026).
• Vila Nova de Gaia's 1638 Restaurant by Nacho Manzano appears in the recommended selection (MICHELIN Guide, Mar 2026).

Methodology and Sources

Every statistic on this page was read from the primary document that produced it, not from a summary, a news write-up or another statistics page. Where a figure could only be traced to a republisher, it was dropped rather than attributed second-hand. That is why some widely quoted Porto numbers do not appear here, including visitor counts for individual attractions and the city's registered short-term rental total, neither of which we could verify against an official release.

Dates in citations are the publisher's stated release date where one exists, and the end of the data's reference period where the publisher gives none. Portuguese accommodation figures come from Statistics Portugal's Survey on Guest Stays in Hotel Establishments and Other Accommodations. May 2026 figures are preliminary and are revised in later releases. This page is updated monthly as new data is published.

Glossary

Overnight stay

One night spent by one guest in an accommodation establishment. A couple staying three nights generates six overnight stays, not three.

Guest

An individual who spends at least one night in an establishment. The same traveller is counted again at each separate establishment they sleep in.

Non-resident

A visitor whose usual residence is outside Portugal. Used here in preference to the looser term foreigner.

NUTS II

The European statistical region level at which Portugal reports tourism. Norte is one of nine such regions and covers Porto, Braga, Guimarães, Viana do Castelo and the Douro.

RevPAR

Revenue per available room. Room revenue divided by all rooms available, occupied or not. The truest measure of how well a hotel market is doing.

ADR

Average daily rate. Room revenue divided by rooms actually occupied. Always higher than RevPAR.

Net bed occupancy rate

Overnight stays divided by beds available in the period, counting a double bed as two.

Seasonality rate

The share of a year's overnight stays falling in its three busiest months. Lower is healthier.

Alojamento local

Portugal's regulated short-stay rental category, covering apartments, villas and hostels. Statistics here cover only units with 10 or more beds, the EU reporting threshold.

Nine-litre case

The wine trade's standard unit, twelve 750ml bottles. Port volumes are reported this way.

Premium Port

IVDP's classification for aged and higher-grade Ports, as opposed to Standard Ports. The split matters because Premium carries most of the category's value.

Sources

• Statistics Portugal, Tourist Activity May 2026 Flash Statistics
• Statistics Portugal, Estatísticas do Turismo 2025
• Statistics Portugal, Estatísticas do Turismo 2024
• Turismo de Portugal, Tourism Outlook May 2026
• Turismo de Portugal, Turismo em Números 2025
• VINCI Airports, Porto airport 80th anniversary release
• APDL, Porto Cruise Terminal sets new cruise records in 2024
• IVDP, Port Wine Sales 2025, Table 1 Volume
• IVDP, Port Wine Sales 2025, Table 2 Value
• IVDP, Port Wine Sales 2025, Table 3 Average Prices
• MICHELIN Guide Portugal 2026
• Câmara Municipal do Porto, Taxa Municipal Turística