Greater Lisbon Is the One Region Where Hotel Revenue Fell in August, While Madeira's Climbed 11.6 Percent

Portugal's hotels and other tourist lodgings had a busier August than a year ago, and earned more from it. Greater Lisbon is the exception. It was the only region of the country where accommodation revenue fell, and the room rates its hotels charged went down rather than up.

The figures are the August flash estimate published on 30 September by the INE (Instituto Nacional de Estatística, the National Statistics Institute). They cover hotels, rural and manor-house tourism and short-term rentals with ten or more beds, and are preliminary: INE revises them a month later.

The national picture

Tourist accommodation recorded 3.9 million guests in August, up 1.9 percent on August 2025, and 10.9 million nights, up 1.7 percent. Total revenue reached 1.1 billion euros and room revenue 846.6 million euros, both up 4.6 percent.

Revenue rising more than twice as fast as the number of nights means visitors paid more per night. The average rate per occupied room rose 3.0 percent to 163.2 euros. But beds and rooms are filling less often. The bed occupancy rate was 66.8 percent, 0.7 points lower than a year earlier, and room occupancy fell 1.1 points to 73.0 percent. INE says both rates have now been falling year on year for 13 months.

Foreign visitors did more of the growing than in July. Nights spent by non-residents rose 1.9 percent to 7.0 million, after 0.8 percent the month before, while nights by residents of Portugal slowed to 1.5 percent growth, from 4.1 percent. The United Kingdom remained the largest market, with 17.1 percent of foreign nights, followed by Spain. France fell again, by 7.6 percent. Poland and Canada grew fastest among the ten biggest markets, both by more than 11 percent.

Lisbon slips while the regions climb

Greater Lisbon still drew 19.3 percent of all nights in August, and its nights rose 1.5 percent. Yet total revenue there fell 1.6 percent and room revenue 1.9 percent. Its average rate per occupied room dropped 2.1 percent, and revenue per available room (RevPAR), which combines price and occupancy, fell 6.3 percent: the biggest drop of any region. INE notes that this was "once again" the only region with falling revenue.

Within the city itself, the municipality of Lisbon recorded 1.6 million nights, up 1.1 percent, but nights by Portuguese residents there fell 4.0 percent.

Elsewhere, the numbers point the other way. Madeira had the strongest revenue growth, up 11.6 percent, and the biggest rise in room rates, up 11.7 percent. The Alentejo's revenue grew 10.6 percent. The North had the largest rise in nights, 4.5 percent, and Porto grew 3.6 percent, the fastest of the ten biggest municipalities for the second month running. The Azores were the only region where nights fell, by 1.7 percent, with residents' nights down 6.8 percent.

The Algarve remains in a class of its own in August. It took 30.1 percent of all nights and 36.3 percent of all revenue, with RevPAR of 180.0 euros and an average room rate of 225.2 euros. Its bed occupancy of 75.9 percent was the highest in the country.

Why it matters

The figures come as the industry argues over what kind of growth Portugal should seek. Last week the tourism confederation urged the country to chase spending rather than visitor numbers, with Lisbon's airport close to capacity, and named Poland and Canada among the markets worth courting. Those two were August's fastest growers, and across the country prices rather than volumes drove revenue. The capital, whose airport is the one close to full, is where that formula is not yet working.

Camping is going the other way entirely. Campsites recorded 1.7 million nights in August, down 5.2 percent, and foreign campers' nights fell 11.4 percent.