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Portugal's central region sees overnight stays at record high

Xinhua, December 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

Over 5 million people stayed the night at hotels, rural tourism and local lodging establishments in Portugal's central region last year, the Portuguese National Institute of Statistics revealed on Tuesday.

"These results reflect the region's good behavior, which have hit numbers never before reached," Pedro Machado, President of the Regional Entity for Central Tourism said.

Tourism has grown significantly in Portugal since 2011, with the number of foreign visitors last year surpassing 10 million, boosting hotel revenues to around 2.5 billion euros. The country opened over 50 new hotels last year.

Portugal signed a 78-billion-euro bailout in 2011, and ended the program in 2014 but is still suffering from sluggish growth, with the International Monetary Fund recently warning the country needs further reforms.

However the Bank of Portugal has said economic recovery will persist and recently slightly revised this year's projected growth to 1.2 percent from 1.1 percent. Endit