The official believes that the war in the Middle East may redirect tourists to Portugal.

Bookings in hotels in the region are "good" for the Easter season and "in line with 2025," meaning that at this time in March, hotels in Porto and Northern Portugal have "around an 80% occupancy rate," said Luís Pedro Martins, in a telephone interview with the Lusa news agency.

At the Douro Suites Riba Douro hotel, in Baião, Porto district, for example, the weekend between Good Friday (3 April) and Easter Sunday (5 April) has an occupancy rate of 80%, said Cláudia Amaral, from the administration, adding that "this year there have been many last-minute bookings," which is unusual at that hotel.

The phenomenon is attributed to “the meteorological instability that has marked the last few months,” with people wanting “guaranteed sunshine.”

In destinations like Porto and Braga, cities with a strong tradition during Holy Week, the figures are “close to 85%,” said the president of TPNP.

Foreign tourists

Just over a week before Easter, the president of TPNP believes reservations will continue to increase in the coming days, driven by the domestic market and “mature” markets such as Spain, France, Germany, and the UK.

“We may have a good performance here again this Easter, largely from those markets that are more frequent at this time, first and foremost Spain, but also France, Germany, and this year the United Kingdom,” he pointed out.

Asked by Lusa whether the war in the Middle East could redirect tourists to Portugal, and specifically to the Northern region, Luís Pedro Martins said the country may see some demand because it is farther from the conflict.

Changes of plans

The president of TPNP points out that some tourists who were planning to visit Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, or Egypt at this time of year are unlikely to do so because of the war in the Middle East.

However, there are issues that could destabilise the tourism sector, such as rising fuel prices, difficulties airlines will face with higher fuel costs or shortages, or even some tourists not wanting to travel during times of war, the official considered.

The president of Turismo do Porto e Norte de Portugal, however, rules out a crisis in the region's tourism sector for now, because the "homework" has been done.

“Our markets today are very diverse; we are not dependent on one or two markets. In the current context, we will primarily serve the domestic market, with Porto and the North leading in 2025 (...). It was something we learned from the [Covid-19] pandemic: to value the domestic market more, and today it is strong and has a weight in [hotel] occupancy.”

Luís Pedro Martins mentions that the region is also heavily supported by “mature” markets, such as Spain, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, and more recently by the Italian and Irish markets, which have “grown considerably” and are far from the conflict and close to Portugal.

On the other hand, the conflict in the Middle East may jeopardise the possibility of tourists from the Asia Pacific markets reaching Portugal, as they may have to make a stopover in places like Dubai or even Istanbul. The president of TPNP recalled that Asian markets are important for Portugal and that the Northern region invested "heavily in external promotion activities in 2024 and 2025, in countries such as China, Japan and South Korea".