In a statement, the public-private body said that the 967,000 Portuguese and 905,000 foreign tourists in the first six months of the year, with the UK, Germany, Spain, France, the Netherlands and Brazil - in that order - the biggest markets.

Average daily revenue per room available (RevPAR, a measure commonly used to compare hotels' profitability) was €37, up “almost 25%” on a year earlier.

According to the ATP, almost 2.5 million passengers went through Porto's Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport, 19% more than a year earlier, while the region's ports handled 41,000 people.

The statement quoted the ATP's chief executive, Filipe Ortigão Guimarães, has hailing the figures as evidence of greater international awareness of the region as a destination, saying that it is "currently the conscious choice of an ever greater number of tourists, whether those who come for the first time, or those who return a second or third time.”

He highlighted the region's varied charms, "from tradition to history, nature, cuisine and culture, as well as the climate, which means that Porto and the North competes side by side with leading European and global destinations."

Guimarães noted that growth in tourist numbers and revenue had accelerated in the second quarter, relative to the first.

In Portugal has a whole in the first half of the year, the number of tourists staying overnight was 9.3 million, up 10%, with revenue from this source of some €1 billion. The country's airports and ports handled a total 12,558,000 visitors.