
The number of foreign tourists visiting Portugal surpassed 2.8 million from January through March, making it the best first quarter on record despite high global inflation and interest rates, data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) showed on Friday.
Measuring only foreigners staying in Portuguese hotels, the number by far topped 1.8 million people a year ago, and was above the 2.5 million reported in the first three months of 2019, which was a record year for tourism, before the COVID-19 pandemic crippled global travel in 2020.