According to figures released by Vinci Airports, the airports of Lisbon and Porto registered growth of 10.7 percent and 11.2 percent in the second quarter, respectively.
Traffic in Faro and Madeira “remains stable despite the collapse of Air Monarch and Niki in 2017 and the adverse weather conditions that have resulted in many flight cancellations,” Vinci said.
“This stability reflects the good health of the main lines operated in Portugal, including TAP, the Portuguese national airline, and Ryanair, easyJet, Transavia and Jet2,” the company added.
The average load factor for commercial flights reached 86.1 percent, with Portugal being a popular destination for European tourists, mainly from Spain, France, the United Kingdom (UK) and Germany.
The 23 airlines have opened a total of 48 new routes in Portugal.
In the second quarter, traffic on the 36 platforms managed by Vinci Airports increased by 7.4 percent year-on-year, bringing the total number of passengers to 42.9 million.
In related news, Portugal’s National Statistics Institute (INE) has highlighted the “remarkable growth” of tourists from the United States visiting the country, which rose again in May by 18.3 percent.
According to INE, the Brazilian market accounted for the second highest increase, of 10 percent.
In the first five months of the year, the highest growth was seen in the same markets (20.5 percent and 12.6 percent, respectively) and also in the Canadian market (12.7 percent), INE said.
The top 15 issuing markets accounted for 87.3 percent of non-resident overnight stays.
The British market (with 22.7 percent of total overnight stays by non-residents) declined 9.0 percent in May, with a decrease of 7.4 percent in the first five months of the year.
The overnight stays by German visitors (14.1 percent of the total) increased 4.8 percent in May, although since the beginning of the year this market shows a slight decrease of 0.5 percent.
The French market (11.9 percent of the total) grew 1.1 percent in May. Between January and May, this market increased by 2.4 percent.
Overnight stays by residents of Spain (6 percent of the total) registered an increase of 5.7 percent in May and a slight decrease since the beginning of the year (0.3 percent).
According to figures released by INE on Friday, the hotel industry registered 2.0 million guests and 5.4 million overnight stays in May, corresponding to increases of 3.5 percent and 1.1 percent, against decreases of 5.2 percent and 8.3 percent in April.
Resident overnight stays rose 5.4 percent, while those of non-residents increased by 0.2 percent (-10.6 percent and -7.5 percent in April, respectively, a month affected by Easter), according to figures on tourist activity produced by INE.
The average stay (2.67 nights) fell by 2.4 percent (-1.5 percent for residents and -2.0 percent for non-residents) and the net bed occupancy rate (54.7 percent), fell by 0.4 percentage points.