Regional focus
“The first direct route between Portugal and China opened in the country in 2017, leading together with an increase in the number of flights from the US to more affluent tourists visiting the country,” says Diogo, a vice president at JLL Hotels and Hospitality Capital Markets. Certainly, this helps explain the 400,000 tourists from the Middle Kingdom who arrived in 2019. More than that, however, what’s really helped
Above: The Vila Galé Collection São Miguel speaks to both Portugal’s cultural and geographical richness.
Below: Hoteliers have been quick to react, with design-driven and mass-market venues arriving on the market.
Previous: Portugal is experiencing a boom in tourism, but can it sustain the record- breaking growth?
rural tourism, has been in response to the demand registered in the country since – with the exception of the pandemic years – tourism performance in Portugal has been constantly breaking records,” the executive explains. “Naturally, the good results end up attracting more investors and several international hotel brands.” Quite aside from those headline numbers, this is
clear enough from what hoteliers are doing. According to THP, for instance, there were at least 66 high-end hotel projects under way in Portugal as of February 2023, altogether constituting some 10,000 keys. As might be expected for a city that hosts a quarter
of the country’s population, Lisbon is dominant here, with 23 upcoming luxury projects, compared to just nine in Porto. All the same, it’d be wrong to surmise that Portuguese hospitality is focused purely on a single city – or the poshest type of hotel. A case in point is Hilton, which plans to unveil a sophisticated Curio Collection and a mid-market Garden Inn by next summer. Geographical spread is equally diffuse here, with openings as far afield as the Azores, some 1,400km west of the Portuguese mainland. How to explain all this activity? For Rui Diogo, the answer has much to do with infrastructure and the expansion of traditional source markets.
Portugal soar is its cultural and natural beauty. The country’s towns are historic gems, its medieval lanes emerging onto baroque squares and belle époque cafes. Leave Lisbon or Porto and there’s much to enjoy too. De Almeida characterises the delights here as “sun and sea, golf, ecotourism and nature tourism” – while Diogo notes the Douro Valley with its world-famous vineyards. Leave the European continent, moreover, and the geography becomes even more wild. On the island of Madeira, hillsides gallop down to the pristine Atlantic. In the Azores, remote lakes nestle between rich mountain valleys.
What’s not to Azore? In many ways, the Vila Galé Collection São Miguel typifies why Portugal is proving such an exciting destination. In the far-off Azores – and the historic town of Ponta Delgada – the hotel speaks elegantly to both the cultural and geographical richness of Portugal. That’s doubly true when considering the property itself. The 92-room hotel emerged out of an antique convent and hospital. Not that the Vila Galé has ignored modernity: amid the grand surroundings, the São Miguel also includes two restaurants, two bars, an outdoor swimming pool and a spa. The point, emphasises De Almeida, is to celebrate Portugal’s past while heralding its future. “This is another Vila Galé- themed hotel,” he says, “dedicated to the history of the Azores, and the Azorean communities.” Yet if the São Miguel is, by dint of its historical roots, unique, it would be wrong to surmise that there’s nothing else like it. Beyond Vila Galé, in fact, many other hoteliers have succeeded in dovetailing history and modernity in a similar way.
16% 16
The percentage of GDP that is accounted for by tourism in Portugal. WTTC
Hotel Management International /
www.hmi-online.com
Vila Galé Hotels
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