P Portugal, tourism Joa ˜o Albino Silva 1 and Jorge Umbelino 2 1 Faculty of Economics, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal 2 Escola Superior de Hotelaria e Turismo do Estoril, Estoril, Portugal The Portuguese Republic is located in southwest- ern ▶ Europe bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and ▶ Spain (Figure 1). Portugal also holds sover- eignty over the Atlantic archipelagos of Azores and Madeira, with a total land area of 92,000 km 2 (35,000 mi 2 ). With a population of 10.5 million in 2011, its GDP was US$220 billion (€171 billion Euros) in 2013 (INE 2014). Tourism ▶ development began in the mid-nineteenth century, linked with thermal spas located in the countryside. In the 1970s, it became one of the most important European des- tinations for “sun and sea” holidays (Lewis and Williams 1988). In the 1980s, it attracted some 8 million international arrivals, and this number climbed to 12 million at the end of the century. In 2010 alone, more than $10 billion (€8 billion) in international ▶ tourist expenditure was recorded. Further, 27 million international bed-nights (mainly from Europe) and 13.5 million domestic bed-nights were registered. Tourism provides 7–8 % of the GDP and 13–14 % of exports of all goods and services (Cunha 2012). The country’s main attractions are its good weather, natural and diverse landscapes, and cul- ture. Sun and sea, touring, meetings, incentives and events, golf, city and short breaks, pilgrim- ages, nature, sports, and cruises are activities and products that have gained popularity over the past few decades. Due to the uneven distribution of resources, tourism is highly concentrated in the regions of Algarve, Lisbon, and Madeira. Turismo de Portugal acts as the only national authority on tourism and is responsible for stra- tegic actions, statistics, reports, territorial plan- ning and licensing, promotion, financial incentives, education and ▶ training for tourism, and regulation of gambling. The country has no official regional organizations, but five bottom- up volunteer organizations, including municipal- ities and business operators, are supported by law and receive financial support from the govern- ment. The tourism ▶ education and training sys- tem is supported by several institutions. Public and private universities and polytechnics offer a diverse and regionally dispersed range of under- graduate, postgraduate, and research programs. Today, there is a modern network of high- ways, five main international airports, and several commercial ports receiving a growing number of cruiseships that guarantee good connections to other tourism regions and countries within Europe. The country has more than 2,000 hotels (or 250,000 beds) (INE 2014; Turismo de Portu- gal 2014). Tourism continues to play an impor- tant role in improving the country’s international # Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 J. Jafari, H. Xiao (eds.), Encyclopedia of Tourism, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-01669-6_150-1