Travel and Tourism Infrastructure of Portugal

Tourism is a vital sector in the Portuguese economy. Any initiative intended to expand tourism is always welcome by the Government of Portugal. Portugal continues its massive infrastructure development projects. The need to parallel such progress with more elaborate and complete passenger travel services increases, therefore, as well. In 1998 Portugal hosted the World Fair.
Consequently, Portugal has invested in upgrading facilities and developing sufficient
infrastructure in order to host these events. The metro in Lisbon is continuously expanding and a
new metro in Oporto, Portugal's second largest city, is expected to be ready by 2003. Moreover,
there are plans to build a new international airport in Lisbon by 2010, to build over USD 3 billion
in new highways and new football stadiums, to execute urban renewal projects in eight
Portuguese cities and to create a "Hollywood type" movie city in Cascais. To this, the private
sector has responded by building 20 new hotels in
Lisbon and 6 new hotels in Oporto. As Portugal undergoes these improvements in infrastructure,
it comes as no surprise that more tourists come to Portugal to enjoy its culture, monuments and
medieval towns, adventure vacations and eco-getaways. Tourist arrivals in Lisbon, for example, have increased over ten percent each year since 1998 is indeed the realization.
Presently, there are a total of 1,786 hotels, motels, tourism apartments and resorts; 569 agro/rural tourism lodging units; 183 camping parks totaling an area of 870.9 acres; and 50 youth hostels. 

In January 2000, the total number of travel agencies was 1200. The latest statistical data on the number of restaurants is dated 1996. At that time, Portugal had a total of 35,633 restaurants and similar facilities (i.e. cafes, bars, bakeries, etc.). The tourism industry employs a total of 42.303 people.
 
Twenty new hotels are projected and some are already under construction. The completion
deadline for all hotels is 2004, the year when Portugal hosts the Euro 2004 European Football Cup
tournament. The investment of around USD 300 million will increase the hotel rooms in Lisbon
to 27,000 compared to the present 12,000 rooms, an increase of around 25%. Some new hotels
will use existing high-value and/or historical real estate. The refurbishing and remodeling of
some of Lisbon's older but valuable real estate will recuperate properties that have been ignored for many years.
Since the World EXPO took place in Lisbon in 1998, tourism has been increasing. By July 2000, the number of tourists to Lisbon had increased by 1.8 million and the hotel occupancy rate reached 76%. Tourist arrivals in the Lisbon International Airport have increased at a 10% rate per year since 1998.

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