Portugal’s travel agents anticipate a slower 2024

After an excellent 2023, Portuguese travel agencies are anticipating a slowdown in tourism in the country next year.

The Portuguese Association of Travel Agencies (APAVT) is currently in the city of Porto holding its 48th annual congress which started this Thursday, November 30, bringing together Portugal’s main tour operators until December 2.

Its president, Pedro Costa Neves, highlighted what a good year 2023 has been for tourism, but suggested that 2024 could be a lot slower in view of the current situation both nationally and internationally, reported observador.pt.

Neves pointed to the fact that companies worked at a faster pace this year than in 2019, which was the last year before the pandemic. However, they are still paying the debts incurred during the two years they were affected by the health crisis he stressed.

‘The truth is that a complex reality emerges before us when we look to 2024’, he indicated. He highlighted factors including the conflict in the Middle East that ‘is lengthening and spreading’, along with inflation, and interest rates.

There is also ‘political international instability, and now also national. I think that, given all of this, no one would be surprised if 2024 was a year of slowdown’, Neves suggested.

Data released today by the National Statistics Institute (INE) point to a 3.9 per cent drop in service exports in the third quarter of 2023, compared to the previous quarter, a sector in which tourism plays a central role.

Will Portugal have a new airport?

Portugal could have a new airport in the pipeline when the highly anticipated results of the study by the independent technical committee are revealed on December 5.

The Independent Technical Commission (CTI), has been conducting a strategic analysis of the various solutions for strengthening Lisbon’s airport capacity.

Five factors are reportedly being comparatively analysed in order to reach a decision. These include aeronautical safety, accessibility and territory, human health and environmental viability, connectivity and economic development, and the public investment and financial model.

This strategic and multidisciplinary analysis report will also be put out for public consultation for 30 days. Only then will the final report be delivered to the Government that will allow a political decision to be made.

As the aforementioned news outlet pointed out, in the current context of crisis, that decision will probably be left in the hands of the next Government.