Official statistics indicate that 16 per cent more Chinese stayed in Portuguese hotels last year than the year before, Xinhua reports, without saying how many.

China was second-fastest-growing source of occupants of Portuguese hotel rooms last year, the Chinese government-run news agency says, citing figures given by the Portuguese National Statistics Institute.

The Portuguese government issued a written statement saying 27 million people visited Portugal last year, 7.3 per cent more than the year before and the most in any year yet.

The statement quotes Portuguese Secretary of State for Tourism Rita Marques as describing the growth in Chinese visitors as exponential.

The tourism industry employs over 400,000 people in Portugal, or about 9 percent of the labour force there, and needs more people qualified to work in tourism, the Portuguese government statement quotes Ms Marques as saying.