"We Told You So" - Portugal is the 3rd Most Booked Destination for the Summer


In our previous post, we published an article about the trending health tourism, and how Portugal's performance in containing the pandemic would translate into a worldwide recognition that we are indeed a safe, highly prepared and trendy destination. What we couldn't predict was that we would be the 3rd most booked destination for this year's summer. That's right, according to the Spanish newspaper “El Mundo”, in partnership with Travel Gate, Spain leads in terms of hotel reservations for the summer of this year (33.7% of the total bookings made in the last days for the next months), with the USA occupying the 2nd place (31.5%) and finally Portugal (9.8%).

Lisbon

Lisbon's photo by Louis Droege in Unsplash

Contrary to popular belief, the summer of 2020 isn't canceled; in fact, we can argue that the need to go out and enjoy public spaces is greater than ever. Hotels have been completely vacant for almost 4 months. Tourism stopped and with it stopped the bookings, contributing to what would be the biggest crisis ever recorded in this sector. The survival of hotels was therefore highly threatened. However, after months of great difficulty, the general panorama of tourism shows great optimism not only the number of bookings, but also on the trust deposited in these destinations in terms of management and security. Interestingly, it is not possible to indicate that there is a logical relation between the number of cases in each country and the number of bookings, with Spain having the second highest number of cases in Europe and the USA with the highest number of cases worldwide.

In the case of Portugal, tourism contributes to 8.7% of the national GDP, a number that has recorded unprecedented growth over the past few years. Portugal is trending, and people know it. The great lever of tourism in Portugal results, in addition to the beauty of our country, to its performance in the fight against the coronavirus. Portugal is currently one of the most prepared and capable countries in terms of health care, also counting on totally new infrastructures across all sectors.

Oporto

Oporto's photo by William Street in Unsplash

Tourism Trends in 2020

Tourism already counts on a positive forethought for this year's summer. Bookings have returned and going strong. The preparation from hotels to try and combine safety with maximum pleasure of stay is the first priority. However, as we saw earlier, there is a larger market for residential and health tourism than there has ever been. Not everyone is comfortable about visiting public spaces, which consequently translates into a greater demand for destinations with increased privacy. Health tourism, despite having constant clients, will certainly register a greater number of bookings - the growing quality of Portuguese health services is also a decisive factor in the success of this type of tourism. In this way, we anticipate that these will be in high demand.

Ora beach, Albufeira

Ora beach photo by Patrício Miguel for Architecture TOTE SER

Upcoming opportunities

We believe that now is the time to invest big on the real estate market, taking advantage of expanding markets that are not yet too saturated. Among many countries in Europe, we believe that Portugal is undoubtedly one of the safest and most profitable markets of today. It is also important to emphasize that the current situation has subjected many sectors to a rapid and necessary evolution, thus contributing to the renovation of various infrastructures, improvements in management and also in the way information is processed. All of these external factors, combined with the current real estate conjecture, provide great investment opportunities. Additionally, it is possible to profit from this wave of tourism that will take over the country in the coming months, taking advantage of cheaper assets in strategic locations that will translate into great returns.