He points out that 2026 has been a 'year unlike any other' given all the operational and other constraints, yet the UK source market has been extremely resilient and has performed very well indeed across the board.

The Algarve is still seeing a steady upward trend in numbers, but the real growth is in Alentejo (up 10% on 2025) and in Northern Portugal, which is up 13% on 2025. That's the nature of the UK market; they're looking for something different, looking for something more varied.

As Carlos Abade made clear, the strategy of the national tourism authority is very much about “diversifying the regions we visit and reducing seasonality”, and the flood of visitors from the UK has been a major contributor to that.

He also touched on the operational difficulties that have arisen in the implementation of the EU's new Entry/Exit System (EES) at the border points, noting that the national response (which involved a significant increase in staffing and the installation of new border control equipment) has been a complete success in overcoming the initial hurdles.

In the presentation of the “Tourism Strategy 2035”, he reiterated the focus on furthering the processes of decentralisation and sustainability with a view to climate action, technology, AI and skills. Reiterating the "value over volume" approach, he said tourism is not an end in itself but a tool to improve the quality of life of our population, and that tourism should generate value for both the visitor and the host community.

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