Official data indicate that visitors spent 37.5 million nights in tourist accommodation in Portugal last year, 45.2 percent more than the year before but fewer than in the era before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, Lusa reports.

The Portuguese news agency, citing figures published by the Portuguese National Statistics Institute on Monday, says 14.5 million visitors stayed in Portuguese accommodation last year, 39.4 percent more than the year before.

The report quotes the institute as saying the pandemic both reduced the amount of tourism in Portugal and changed its usual pattern. 

The institute says more nights were spent in tourist accommodation between August and October last year than between July and September, which is the usual peak season, according to Lusa.