Tourism in Portugal

Belem Tower is one of the most famous landmarks in Lisbon, one of the leading tourism cities in Europe.
The Algarve — the main beach tourism area in Portugal.
University of Coimbra, one of the oldest universities in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Monserrate Palace in Sintra, Greater Lisbon.
Porto and its region is an upcoming star in Portuguese tourism.
Pico, besides being the highest mountain in Portugal, is a wine region whose landscape is protected as world heritage.

Portugal attracts many tourists each year. In 2006, the country was visited by 7 million tourists.[1] Tourism is playing an increasingly important role in Portugal's economy contributing about 5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The main tourist areas are, by order of importance, the Greater Lisbon (Lisboa), the Algarve, Greater Porto and Northern Portugal (Porto e Norte), city of Coimbra, Portuguese Islands (Ilhas Portuguesas: Madeira and Azores), and Alentejo.

Lisbon is, after Barcelona, the European city attracting most tourists, with 7 million tourists sleeping in the city's hotels in 2006, the number grew 11.8% compared to previous year.[2] Lisbon in recent years surpassed the Algarve as the leading tourist region in Portugal. Porto and Northern Portugal, especially the urban areas north of Douro River, was the tourist destination which grew most (11.9%) in 2006 and surpassed Madeira, in 2010, as the third most visited destination. Today, most tourists in Portugal are Spanish, British, French, Dutch, Scandinavians or Brazilians, which not only search for beach vacations, but mostly cultural ones, city breaks, gastronomy, nautical tourism or business traveling.

Tourism regions

Tourist hotspots in Portugal are Lisbon, Porto, the Algarve, Coimbra and Madeira, but the Portuguese government is currently developing new destinations: the Douro Valley, Porto Santo Island, and Alentejo.

Portugal has several other tourism regions such as Douro Sul, Templários, Dão-Lafões, Costa do Sol, Costa Azul, Planície Dourada, etc. Most of them are unknown to tourists and locals alike. As of 2007, these are being reorganized.

All these regions are grouped in tourism reference areas, which are widely known because these are the traditional regions:

See also

References

External links

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