In a press release, the Municipality of Tomar in Santarém revealed its visitor statistics for the past year, noting a “7% increase in entries compared to the previous year” with nearly 200,000 visits recorded at municipally managed museums and monuments.
In 2024, a total of 195,540 visitors were registered at Tomar’s municipally managed cultural facilities. This followed 182,126 visitors in 2023, a year marked by the quadrennial Festa dos Tabuleiros, and 134,071 in 2022.
Out of the 195,540 visitors in 2024, 112,408 were Portuguese, accounting for 57.49%, while 83,132 were international visitors, comprising 42.51% of the total.
Among the international visitors, 21.52% hailed from the United States, 14.62% from Spain, 11.98% from France, and 9.89% from Brazil.
The Municipality of Tomar described the 2024 visitor numbers as “very significant,” highlighting the increasing tourist demand beyond that of the Convent of Christ, a UNESCO World Heritage Site not included in this count as it is not under municipal management.
The Lusa news agency reached out to the Convent of Christ’s management, operated by Museums and Monuments of Portugal. An official source there noted that the 2024 visitor numbers have not yet been released, but they “exceed the 311,879 visitors recorded in 2023.”
Within Tomar’s municipally managed cultural sites, the most visited monument was the Synagogue, which drew a total of 47,841 visitors, 28,943 of whom were international.
The Interpretive Center of the Synagogue also maintained this trend, attracting 27,096 visits, 15,336 from foreign visitors.
The second most visited site was the Chapel of Santa Iria, with 31,261 visitors, the majority being Portuguese tourists numbering 20,942.
The Cultural Complex of Levada, which includes the Núcleos Museológicos da Fundição Tomarense and the Central Elétrica, the Tomar Templário Interpretive Center, and the Moagem A Portuguesa with the ‘Fábrica das Artes | Tomar’ project, accounted for 20.9% of total visits with 40,848 visitors spread across various spaces.
