Portugal looks tap into potential Middle East market
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Portugal as a tourist destination attracted 7
.4 million tourists in 2011, up from 6.8 million in 2010. Tourism contributes 9.2% of the country’s GDP and 8.2% of total employment. While the five main markets providing visitors to Portugal are Spain, the UK, Germany, France and Brazil, the Middle East and South Asia, mainly India, too are generating tourist traffic to the country.
With direct connectivity with Emirates’ flight to Lisbon, number of tourists from the region is expected to go up significantly to more than 100,000. In the Gulf, UAE and Qatar are the main drivers with the UAE providing 1,142 tourists to Portugal in 2009 and 2,045 in 2010. India generated 10,394 tourists in 2009, which increased to 11,069 in 2010.
“There are plenty of opportunities to enhance our current relationship for mutual benefit, which I am sure will be better utilized with the launch of the direct airlink,” said HE Cecília Meireles Portugal’s minister of tourism.
“With the start of the direct flight, we are expecting a massive increase in visitor numbers to Portugal from this region,” said president of tourism of Portugal, Frederico Costa.
