Portugal steers tourists inland
- Portugal will fund €11 million in projects to redirect visitors toward inland nature, gastronomy, wellness and culture. (euronews.com) - The plan specifically aims to take pressure off Lisbon and Porto by promoting less-visited regions. (euronews.com) - Officials describe the funding as a proactive policy to address overtourism while boosting regional economies. (euronews.com)
Portugal is putting €4.5 million of public money behind 12 tourism projects in inland regions, part of a package worth about €11 million aimed at drawing visitors beyond Lisbon and Porto. (turismodeportugal.pt) Turismo de Portugal said the contracts were signed in Porto last month, with Economy Minister Manuel Castro Almeida and Tourism Secretary Pedro Machado attending. The projects are spread across the North, Center, Alentejo and Ribatejo regions. (turismodeportugal.pt) The funding is tied to nature, gastronomy, wellness and cultural tourism in low-density areas, according to Turismo de Portugal and Euronews. Euronews reported the goal is to pull demand away from the country’s most crowded urban tourism hubs. (euronews.com) This move comes after another record year for Portuguese tourism. Statistics Portugal estimated 29.0 million non-resident tourist arrivals in 2024, up 9.3% from 2023, while Turismo de Portugal said the country logged 31.6 million guests and tourism revenue growth of 8.8% in 2024. (ine.pt) (turismodeportugal.pt) The pressure is not spread evenly across the map. Statistics Portugal said Grande Lisboa accounted for 28.3% of all overnight stays in the first quarter of 2025, while Norte took 18.0%; by contrast, non-resident stays were a much smaller share of regional totals in Centro and Alentejo. (ine.pt) Portugal launched the broader “Growing with Tourism” program in February 2025 with a €30 million budget, and the inland awards are one round inside that scheme. Euronews reported officials presented the latest funding as a way to ease overtourism while spreading tourism income to regional economies. (euronews.com) (newswav.com) The government is also working from a tourism base that kept growing in 2025, though more slowly. Turismo de Portugal said Portugal recorded 82.1 million overnight stays, 32.5 million guests and a 5.0% rise in tourism revenue in 2025. (turismodeportugal.pt) The bet is that Portugal can keep adding visitors without sending all of them to the same streets, hotels and airport corridors. The next test is whether these inland projects turn public funding into year-round demand outside the country’s biggest city breaks. (turismodeportugal.pt)
