Portugal's Hidden Economic Engine: First-Ever Report Values Wellness Sector at 21 Billion Dollars

When people think about what drives Portugal's economy, they tend to reach for the familiar: tourism, real estate, textiles, maybe tech. But a landmark report released this week by the Global Wellness Institute suggests the country has been quietly building a sector worth more than most people realise.

Portugal's wellness economy reached 21 billion dollars in 2024, according to the first country-specific analysis ever conducted by the GWI in partnership with the Associacao Portuguesa de Etica Empresarial (APEE). That figure accounts for 6.8 percent of GDP, comfortably above the global average of 6.1 percent.

The Numbers

The three largest pillars are wellness tourism (5.1 billion dollars), personal care and beauty (4.2 billion), and physical activity (3.7 billion). But it is the growth trajectories that tell the more interesting story. Wellness real estate is expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 20.6 percent, mental wellness at 13.4 percent, public health and personalised medicine at 10.2 percent, and wellness tourism at 7.4 percent.

The tourism component is particularly striking. Portugal welcomed 2.49 million inbound wellness trips in 2024, significantly surpassing the pre-pandemic benchmark of 2.05 million in 2019. Visitors spent an average of 1,349 dollars per trip, well above the typical tourist spend and underlining why this segment is attracting serious investment.

What Wellness Tourism Actually Looks Like

This is not just about spa weekends in the Algarve, though those certainly count. The category encompasses thermal springs (Portugal has dozens, many dating to Roman times), surf and yoga retreats along the Atlantic coast, meditation and digital detox programmes in the Alentejo, and a growing number of wellness-focused residential developments that blur the line between tourism and relocation.

For the expat community, the growth of wellness real estate is worth watching. At a 20.6 percent annual growth rate, this is the fastest-expanding wellness sub-sector in Portugal. It includes residential communities, co-living spaces, and resort developments designed around health and wellbeing, many of which are marketed to international buyers. As Portugal's tourism hit record numbers in 2025, the wellness segment has been capturing a disproportionate share of the higher-spending travellers.

Per Capita Spending Exceeds European Average

Portuguese residents and visitors spent 1,961 dollars per capita on wellness in 2024, exceeding the European average of 1,876 dollars. That gap is modest, but it is notable for a country where average wages remain well below the EU mean. It suggests that wellness spending in Portugal is driven heavily by its international population: tourists, digital nomads, retirees, and a growing cohort of health-conscious expats.

The report was formally presented at a public event hosted by APEE in Lisbon on 20 March, and the full dataset is available on the GWI website. For a country that has been grappling with a housing crisis and mixed signals on rents, the wellness economy represents a rare bright spot: a sector that is growing fast, attracting high-value visitors, and generating the kind of economic activity that does not depend on low wages or mass-market tourism.

Whether Portugal can sustain this trajectory will depend on whether the investment follows the data. The GWI report gives policymakers and investors their first rigorous baseline. What they do with it will determine whether wellness becomes a strategic pillar of the Portuguese economy or remains a pleasant but underexploited asset.

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