Portugal announced in October it would be launching a promotional campaign for tourists in the United Kingdom in an attempt to circumvent any potential negative effects of Britain leaving the European Union.
Speaking as Portugal celebrated World Tourism Day, Tourism State Secretary Ana Mendes Godinho explained that the government was working to be ready for any potential fall-outs from Brexit.
She explained however that while all parties concerned should be ready to minimise all possible impacts, “figures this year show that there has been no impact whatsoever” from the 23 June vote in Britain to leave the EU.
Latest numbers actually point to growth above that which would have been expected at the start of summer, with British tourists topping the list with an increase of 15 percent, which the Tourism Secretary said was due to Portugal’s enormous capacity to continuously attract British tourists to these shores.
With the excellent tourism figures for 2016 emerging, The Portugal News also revealed that around 42,000 new jobs had also been created since the beginning of the year in the tourism industry, which is currently responsible for six percent of Portugal’s GDP and 15 percent of all exports.
Ana Mendes Godinho also reiterated a position assumed earlier in 2016 during which the government undertook to make Portugal a year-round destination, saying that forecasts for this coming winter “are very positive.”