The Portuguese Hotel Association (AHP) identifies “positive signs” in bookings for the Christmas and New Year period, although with notable differences between the various regions of the country. The conclusions result from a survey carried out by the association with 261 tourist enterprises.
“The prospects for the festive season of Christmas and New Year’s Eve 2025 point to an overall positive evolution of hotel activity, although marked by the usual regional asymmetries”, says the association in a statement released this Wednesday.
According to the survey, conducted between November 24th and December 12th by the AHP studies and statistics office among its members, “the national average reservation rate for Christmas was 42%, which represented an increase of four percentage points compared to the reservations recorded in the same period last year”.
Regarding New Year’s Eve, the reservation rate “reaches 55%, above the 50% recorded in 2024”, the association also indicates in the same statement.
Higher values in reservations for Christmas are registered in Madeira
Regarding Christmas, the highest values are recorded in Madeira, where the booking rate on that date was 71%.
In Greater Lisbon, “the rate of 44% is equal to that found in the same period in 2024”.
In the opposite direction, “the lowest values of reserves are found in the Azores (29%), the Setúbal Peninsula (28%) and the Alentejo (24%)”, says AHP.
Regarding occupancy rate expectations for Christmas, AHP states that “optimism is more evident in Madeira, where 60% of hoteliers anticipate a better or much better occupancy rate than the previous Christmas”, while “in Alentejo, 47% of hoteliers anticipate a worse or much worse occupancy rate” than last year.
As for New Year’s Eve, the “highest booking rates are recorded in Madeira (79%) and Greater Lisbon (58%)”.
“Regarding the average stay, around half of hoteliers in Madeira believe that it will be shorter than the previous New Year’s Eve, a situation possibly associated with the fact that New Year’s Eve takes place in the middle of the week”, also states.
The sample of 261 establishments surveyed is distributed across the North (13%), Center (11%), West and Tagus Valley (8%), Greater Lisbon (32%), Setúbal Peninsula (3%), Alentejo (7%), Algarve (9%), Azores (4%) and Madeira (13%) regions.
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