LISBON: The number of Chinese tourists visiting Portugal was almost 50 percent up in 2014 compared with the year before, with 113,200 visitors from the Asian giant who spent €54 million, confirming the Portuguese tourist board’s successful wager on China.
The numbers were compiled by the Portuguese National Statistics Institute (INE) and Bank of Portugal (BdP) and they were released at the seminars that the tourist board is running in three large Chinese cities, Beijing, Shanghai and Canton, this week. About 109 million Chinese went abroad last year – 19.5 percent more than in 2013. Most just went to Macao or Hong Kong, but the USA, Europe and Australia are attracting more and more middle class Chinese.
Meanwhile in related news, China is ready and willing to boost its imports from Portugal and to increase its investment in the economy and especially in infrastructures, Leonardo Mathias, state secretary for the economy, told Lusa News agency during his recent official visit to Beijing.
