Ireland is now just under 3pc of the inbound market to Portugal, growing to 5pc in shoulder season.
Latest figures show a record 509,824 arrivals from Ireland in the first eleven months of 2023, 14.3pc ahead of 2022 and 26.2pc ahead of 2019.
Secretary of State for Tourism, Commerce and Services, Nuno Fazenda told a briefing in Lisbon that 2023 was the best tourist year ever in the country, with 30m guests, a growth of around 10pc compared to 2019, which had previously been the best tourist year, with 77m overnight stays and revenue in the order of €25bn, a growth of 37pc compared to 2019 and 18.5pc compared to 2022.
The growth in Irish visits to the Algarve is even more profound, with more visitors from Ireland in 2022 than from Germany.
Dublin airport has currently scheduled 51 flights a week to faro in summer 2024, 28 from Ryanair and 23 from Aer Lingus including some rotations with the A3300 widebody, as well as Lisbon 40w (15w each from Ryanair and TAP and 9w Aer Lingus), 6w Porto and 2w Funchal, all Ryanair.
The news came as Portugal launched a new tourism campaign: “It’s not tourism. It’s futourism.”
Portugal’s tourism strategy masterplan says of Ireland: “Although it is a small market, there is a strong affinity with Portugal and as such an effort should be made to explore this relationship in order to leverage the notoriety of the destination, in order to be able to grow, especially during the low season (3.6pc market share). “
