In line with the trend for improving the offering for tourists in Portugal a new report has found that Portugal ended 2016 with 1,945 hotels and tourist developments, up 81 from a year earlier.

According to the 12th Hotel Atlas published by the consultancy firm Deloitte, which foresees the opening of 38 new units this year, the number of overnight stays exceeded 53 million last year, while revenue topped €2 billion and the overall occupancy rate was over 63%.

The regions with the highest occupancy rates were Madeira (77.5%) and Lisbon (72.5%), however the Algarve remains a tourist hotspot in the country, especially with foreign summer visitors.

According to a report by the Portuguese news agency Lusa, the capital's region also had the highest average price per room, at €80.65. However, Madeira did better in terms of number of days per stay, with 5.39 days, against the Algarve's 4.49 days.

All regions saw their revenues per room available (RevPAR) growth, with Lisbon once again leading with €59.18 euros, up €5.58 from 2015.

Internationally, Lisbon's occupancy rate overtook those of several major European cities, including Rome, Madrid and Paris, although it remained below London, Amsterdam and Barcelona. In terms of RevPAR it remained below the European average.

Hotels remain the most common type of tourist accommodation, at 73% of the total. That is followed by tourist apartments (10%), apart-hotels (7%), rural hotels (5%), tourist resorts (3%) and pousadas (2%) - former state-owned hotels, mostly in castles and other monuments.

“The year 2016 was unique and historic in revenues, overnight stays, but also ... for growth in the number of developments," said Miguel Eiras Antunes, Deloitte's leader of Tourism, Hospitality & Services, in a statement.

According to Deloitte, of the 38 new units it expects this year - mostly with four or five stars - 18 are in Lisbon, with nine in the North, seven in the Centre, four in the Algarve and one in the Azores.

According to Jorge Marrão, Deloitte's real estate director, the consultancy foresees "ever greater interest from international investors in our country [as a] result of the increase in the profitability rates of property assets." Tourism will, he went on to say, "continue to be strategic for our economy."

In May Portugal's Hotels Association said that between now and 2018 it expects 83 new hotels to open in the country, 41 of them this year.