[NOTE: This edition makes available data for the 1^st quarter of 2026 relating to the Autonomous Region of Madeira (ARM). It should be noted that DREM continues to publish an aggregate covering hotels, rural tourism and all local accommodation, regardless of the number of beds. INE, in its own publication, excludes local accommodation with fewer than 10 beds, so in this news release, in the Em Foco section and in the tables published by DREM, the overall total for guests and overnight stays is higher than that of INE. For the variables occupancy rates, rooms and revenue, the values coincide with those of INE, since their calculation excludes local accommodation with fewer than 10 beds.]

In the 1^st quarter of 2026

Foreign guest arrivals increased 10.2% year-on-year, with the British and German markets surpassing the 80 000 mark

Summary

In the 1^st quarter of 2026, the set of accommodation establishments (tourist accommodation, holiday camps and youth hostels) in the Autonomous Region of Madeira (ARM) recorded the arrival of 522.1 thousand guests and approximately 2.7 million overnight stays, corresponding to increases of 9.2% and 2.5%, respectively, compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

The average length of stay across all tourist accommodation was 4.53 nights in the 1^st quarter of 2026, reflecting a decrease of 5.5% compared to the 1^st quarter of 2025 (4.79 nights). This change was due mainly to the reduction recorded in the foreign market, whose average stay stood at 4.85 nights (–7.0%).

In the 1^st quarter of 2026, tourist accommodation performed better than the overall set of accommodation establishments, concentrating almost all tourism activity: 99.7% of total guest arrivals and 99.9% of overnight stays.

Holiday camps and youth hostels recorded 1 329 guest arrivals (0.3% of the total; –28.9% compared to the same quarter of the previous year), generating 3 945 overnight stays (0.1%; –34.4%) and an average stay of 2.90 nights (+2.4% compared to the 1^st quarter of 2025).

Tourist accommodation

Tourist accommodation recorded, in the 1^st quarter of 2026, the arrival of 520.7 thousand guests, who generated approximately 2.7 million overnight stays, reflecting positive year-on-year changes of 9.3% and 2.6%, respectively. It should be noted that, excluding local accommodation with fewer than 10 beds, overnight stays in tourist accommodation decreased 1.8% compared to the 1^st quarter of 2025, a change contrary to that recorded at the national level (+1.3%).

In this quarter, the hotel sector concentrated 67.0% of overnight stays (approximately 1.8 million), recording a year-on-year decrease of 2.5%. Local accommodation represented 30.9% of the total and increased 16.3%, while rural tourism, with a share of 2.1%, fell 3.3%. By establishment category, the largest increases were observed in tourist apartments (+6.9%), 4-star aparthotels (+4.2%) and “Lodging houses and Quintas da Madeira” (+1.3%).

In the reference quarter, the average length of stay across all tourist accommodation decreased compared to the same quarter of the previous year (4.80), settling at 4.53 nights. The highest values continue to be recorded in local accommodation (4.62 nights) and hotels (4.52 nights), while rural tourism presents the lowest average stay (3.64 nights). Within the hotel sector, tourist villages stand out with the highest average stay, reaching 6.66 nights in the reference period (–4.7% compared to the 1^st quarter of 2025), followed very closely by 5-star aparthotels, with 5.88 nights (–7.6% compared to the same period of the previous year).

In the 1^st quarter of 2026, across all foreign markets (non-residents), the Region recorded the arrival of 407.7 thousand guests, who generated more than 2.2 million overnight stays, reflecting increases of 10.2% and 2.0% compared to the same period of 2025, respectively. The Autonomous Region of Madeira was the region with the greatest dependence on foreign markets (85.9% of total overnight stays), followed by Algarve (80.9%) and Grande Lisboa (78.6%). Conversely, overnight stays by non-residents were less significant in the Centro and Alentejo regional totals (23.5% and 32.1%, respectively).

In this period, among the five main foreign source markets, the following stand out in terms of overnight stays: the German market (20.9% of the total; +4.1% compared to the same period of 2025), the British market (18.8%; –2.0%), the Polish market (8.4%; –8.0%), the French market (4.2%; –3.6%) and the Dutch market (3.9%; +17.0%). The Portuguese market, accounting for 15.6% of the total, posted a positive change of 6.0%. It is worth noting that these six main markets concentrated the vast majority of overnight stays (71.9%) in the 1^st quarter of 2026.

At the municipal level, it should be noted that Câmara de Lobos, Santa Cruz and Ponta do Sol were the municipalities that, in terms of overnight stays, showed the greatest dependence on foreign markets (non-residents), with 89.3%, 88.7% and 87.2%, respectively. Porto Santo stands out for recording the highest percentage of overnight stays by residents in Portugal, representing 41.5% of the total in the 1^st quarter of 2026.

The municipality of Funchal stands out for concentrating 61.3% of the region's overnight stays, totalling approximately 1.6 million overnight stays in the 1^st quarter of 2026, corresponding to a positive year-on-year change of 2.5%. In the largest municipality of the ARM, overnight stays by residents in Portugal grew 3.6% and those by residents abroad grew 2.3%.

The second municipality with the highest number of overnight stays was Santa Cruz, with 11.5% of the regional total, contributing approximately 305.7 thousand overnight stays in the 1^st quarter of 2026, representing a decrease of 0.8% compared to the same period of the previous year. In this municipality, overnight stays by residents abroad decreased 0.4%, while those by residents in Portugal fell 3.9%.

Among the eleven municipalities in the Region, Ribeira Brava stands out for the increase of 24.2% in overnight stays compared to the 1^st quarter of 2025. This increase was driven by a rise of 68.8% in the domestic market and 14.0% in the foreign market.

In the quarter under analysis, the net bed occupancy rate for tourist accommodation in the Region was 58.3%, corresponding to a decrease of 2.3 percentage points (pp) compared to the same period of 2025 (60.6%). The room occupancy rate reached 67.9%, a value below the 70.7% recorded in the 1^st quarter of 2025.

From January to March 2026, total revenue and accommodation revenue recorded year-on-year changes of +9.7% and +9.4%, totalling 178.7 million euros and 125.6 million euros, respectively.

The trend in overnight stays reveals a slowdown trajectory following a period of very sharp recovery. In the 1^st quarter of 2023, exceptionally high growth was recorded (48.3%), reflecting the rebound of tourism activity. From the 2^nd quarter of 2023 onwards, a normalisation of growth is observed, with more moderate but relatively stable year-on-year changes, ranging between 5.7% and 10.0% through to the end of 2024. In 2025, growth rates remained close to the upper end of this range in the 2^nd quarter and the 3^rd quarter (around 9.5%). However, from the 4^th quarter of 2025 onwards, a slowdown occurred, which continued into the 1^st quarter of 2026 (+2.6%).

In the 1^st quarter of 2026, the RevPAR (revenue per available room) for all tourist accommodation (excluding local accommodation with fewer than 10 beds) stood at 77.44 euros, reflecting an increase of 6.2% compared to the same period of the previous year and representing the second highest value among the nine NUTS 2 regions. In the hotel sector, RevPAR reached 83.78 euros (+6.8% year-on-year). As for the ADR (average daily rate), values were higher, totalling 114.08 euros across all tourist accommodation (+10.5% compared to the same period of the previous year) and 118.73 euros in the hotel sector (+12.2%).

The highest RevPAR and ADR values were recorded at “Lodging houses and Quintas da Madeira”, with 126.00 euros (–1.3% compared to the 1^st quarter of 2025) and 173.38 euros (+2.5%), respectively. In second place, the 5-star hotel category stands out, with a RevPAR of 111.40 euros (+1.8% compared to the 1^st quarter of 2025) and an ADR of 172.14 euros (+9.9%).

Number of rounds played on the Region’s golf courses decreased in the 1^st quarter of 2026

The Golf Course Survey indicates that 24.0 thousand rounds were played at the three golf courses in the ARM in the period from January to March 2026, reflecting a year-on-year reduction of 20.7%, explained by the decrease recorded at one of the courses. This activity generated approximately 1.5 million euros in revenue (–0.6% compared to the 1^st quarter of 2025).

Of the total rounds played, 80.1% were by non-members (84.1% in the 1^st quarter of 2025). As for the country of habitual residence of players, 54.9% of rounds were played by residents of Nordic countries, 14.3% by residents in Portugal, 11.4% in Germany and 7.2% by residents in the United Kingdom.

Transit passengers on cruise ships visiting the Autonomous Region of Madeira grew in the 1^st quarter of 2026

According to data provided by the Ports Administration of the ARM, in the 1^st quarter of 2026, 324.2 thousand transit passengers were recorded across the 129 cruise ships that docked at the ARM ports. Compared to the same period of the previous year, 24 more stopovers took place, with the increase in the number of transit passengers standing at 24.2%.

 

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