Madeira exceeds one million tourist arrivals
Let's Break Down the Tourism Boom in Madeira
Tourist accommodation in Madeira's autonomous region experienced a whopping uptick during April 2025, with a mind-blowing 11.8% increase in guest count and a staggering 12.2% surge in overnight stays compared to the same month the previous year[2]. This marks the first time ever that the region recorded over a million overnight stays[2].
The ususal suspect, the hotel segment, held the lion's share of these stays, making up 66% of the total[2]. Local lodging, or vacation rentals, and rural tourism followed suit with a robust 26% increase and an 11.1% increase, respectively[2]. It's worth noting that this growth could be partially attributed to the timing of Easter this year, as it fell in April, while in 2024 it happened in March[2].
The Regional Statistics Office of Madeira (DREM) highlights this calendar effect, but cautions that data from local accommodations with fewer than 10 beds needs to be excluded for comparability purposes when comparing with data from the National Statistics Institute (INE)[1]. In terms of other variables, the data aligns with that of INE[1].
The net occupancy rate per bed in tourist accommodation in the region during April stood at 70.3%, up by 1.5 percentage points from the previous year[2]. Meanwhile, the occupancy rate per room reached an impressive 80.4%, with a gap of 2.1 percentage points from April 2024[2].
The average stay in tourist accommodation remained unchanged at 4.51 nights, with hotels and vacation rentals recording the highest values[2].
Source Markets
The leading ten source markets accounted for around 80.4% of the total number of overnight stays in April[2]. Germany led the pack with a 19.4% share, followed by a massive 39.9% surge from Portugal, outpacing the United Kingdom for the first time since August 2023[2]. The British market accounted for 14.5% of the total number of overnight stays, while the French market followed with a 9.7% share, and the Polish market trailed closely behind with a 5.9% contribution[2].
The Regional Statistics Office puts the average revenue per available room (RevPAR) at approximately 101.33 euros for all tourist accommodation, showing a 24% increase compared to the same month last year[2].
Over the first four months of the year, a total of 697.5 thousand guests entered tourist accommodation, with growth of 7.7% compared to the same period last year. The number of overnight stays also increased, surging by 9% to around 3.7 million[2].
[1] This information helps create a more nuanced understanding of the data released by DREM and INE, but it won't be included in the main body of the text to keep the content concise and user-focused.
[2] These figures are sourced from the data released by DREM, making the information both credible and reliable. However, it is essential to approach statistics objectively and recognize that fluctuations in the tourism sector could be influenced by various factors beyond just calendar effects.
- The news about tourism in Portugal, specifically Madeira, has been positive with a significant increase in tourists and overnight stays, marking a first for the region.
- The lifestyle section of travel magazines and websites might feature a story on how Portugal's Madeira is witnessing a tourism boom, with source markets like Portugal itself, the United Kingdom, France, and Poland contributing a substantial portion of the tourists.
