Portugal's tourist accommodation took 786.6 million euros in June (on fewer foreign nights than last year)
Nights booked by non-residents fell 0.6% in June, ending an eight-month run of growth, according to Statistics Portugal. Domestic travellers were the only thing holding the total up.
For eight months running the numbers told the same story. More foreign visitors, more nights, more money. In June one of those three stopped moving: nights booked by non-residents fell 0.6% against June 2025, ending a growth run that began last October.
This is a wobble, not a collapse. Foreign visitors still accounted for 5.7 million of the month’s 8.1 million nights, and the overall total actually rose 0.7%, held up entirely by Portuguese travellers, whose nights were up 3.8%. Hotels, guesthouses and local accommodation took in 3.1 million guests, 1% more than a year ago.
Fewer nights, more revenue
Money is the part that kept climbing. Total revenue reached 786.6 million euros, up 4.7% year on year, with room revenue at 609.3 million, up 4.5%. Average daily rate rose to 140.8 euros a room. Turn that around and the bill per head grew while the number of heads stood still. That is the shape ministers have argued for in public, and June is the first month in which it shows up in the data without any ambiguity.
Occupancy softened. Net bed occupancy slipped 1.4 points to 53.6%, and the average stay shortened to 2.58 nights. Madeira and the Algarve remain the places people linger longest, at 4.37 and 3.90 nights.
Who showed up and who did not
The ten biggest source markets supplied 76.9% of foreign nights. Britain stayed comfortably in front on 20.8%, followed by the United States on 11.5% and Germany on 10.9%, the last of those despite a 4.9% drop of its own. France fell hardest, down 7.9%. Canada was the only sizeable market to grow, up 4%.
Regionally the north did the heavy lifting with nights up 4.8%, ahead of Greater Lisbon and the Alentejo. The West and Tagus Valley went the other way at minus 6.6%, with Madeira down 3.3%. Look only at foreign visitors and just three regions escaped a negative sign: the Azores, the north and Greater Lisbon.
One month is not a trend, particularly for a sector coming off a record first half, with July and August still to be counted. It is worth marking the date all the same. This is the first time since last autumn that the headline number in Portuguese tourism has gone backwards. The full release is on the Statistics Portugal site.
By Beatriz Mota
Chart: Tugadaily, with data from Statistics Portugal (INE)
