The National Institute of Statistics (INE) reported that the tourism accommodation sector logged 3.3 million guests and 8.5 million overnight stays in September 2025, generating total revenues of 840.1 million euros and lodging revenues of 659.1 million euros.
Overnight stays by non-residents saw a 1.2% decrease compared to September 2024, falling to six million. A decline was also noted in August, though smaller at 0.4% compared to the previous year.
Despite this, the total number of overnight stays at tourist accommodation establishments (including residents and non-residents) continued to rise in September, albeit with a year-on-year increase of less than 1%. The growth compared to September 2024 was 0.7%.
The increase in the overall number of overnight stays “was solely due to residents,” states the INE.
Overnight stays by residents living in Portugal rose by 5.6% compared to September last year, marking 2.5 million overnight stays, following a 4.5% year-on-year increase in August.
Overall, including both residents and non-residents, the average stay of tourists decreased by 0.4% to 2.58 nights.
Among the top ten countries of origin for non-resident tourists, “the German market was the only one to grow (+3.1%)” in September.
Conversely, “the largest decreases were observed in the Irish (-7.3%) and French (-7.2%) markets,” according to INE data.
The UK market continues “to maintain the lead,” despite a 6.1% decline, representing 18.9% of the total non-resident tourists in September.
The German market was the second main source (12.5%), followed by the U.S. market in third place.
Overnight stays by residents “increased in all regions except the Autonomous Region of the Azores (-2.5%) and the Center (-2.4%),” according to the INE.
The most significant growth, reads the statistical summary, was in the Autonomous Region of Madeira (+36.3%), “with the West and Tagus Valley and Alentejo regions also standing out (+9.7% in both).”
Regarding overnight stays of non-residents, “mostly negative variations were observed, with increases only in Alentejo (+5.2%), the North (+2.9%), and the Setúbal Peninsula (+1.9%).” The largest declines were seen in the West and Tagus Valley (-3.5%) and the Autonomous Region of Madeira (-3.4%), the statistical institute states.
In addition to tourist accommodation establishments, if camping parks, holiday colonies, and youth hostels are counted, the number of guests in September totaled 3.5 million, with 9.3 million overnight stays.
“Camping parks registered 213.1 thousand campers and 729.2 thousand overnight stays in September, corresponding to variations of -6.6% in guests and +0.3% in overnight stays (+0.7% for residents and -0.4% for non-residents), with the average stay (3.42 nights) increasing by 7.4%,” notes the INE.
“Holiday colonies and youth hostels received 33.0 thousand guests (-2.4%), which resulted in 73.6 thousand overnight stays (-1.5%), with the average stay (2.23 nights) increasing by 0.9%. Overnight stays by residents decreased by 2.4%, while those by non-residents increased by 0.6%,” reads the statistical summary.
