Since 1980, World Tourism Day has been celebrated annually on 27 September, as this was the day when the directives considered to be the most significant for global tourism came into force. This year, the World Tourism Organisation has chosen the theme “Tourism and Green Investment”.
With this celebration, the World Tourism Organisation aims to demonstrate the importance of tourism and its cultural, economic and social value.
This year, World Tourism Day is celebrated under the theme of Green Tourism and Investment – one of the main priorities for tourism recovery, future growth and development.
The World Tourism Organization highlights the need for more investments aimed at people, the planet and prosperity, highlighting the importance of finding innovative solutions that promote and sustain economic growth and productivity, converging on sustainability goals .
In Portugal, the number of foreign tourists visiting our country exceeded eight million between January and June, making it the best first half of all time, according to data released by the National Statistics Institute.
Following the national trend in the first half of the year, 536.4 thousand overnight stays were recorded in Porto (7.2% of the total), an increase of 25.1% compared to June 2019 (+31.7% for residents and +23.9% in non-residents).
The increase in tourist demand in the city of Porto was also reflected in the influx of visitors to the Soares dos Reis National Museum which, from the beginning of the year until the end of July, registered a total of 43,387 visitors (of this total universe, 34, 5% are foreign visitors).