Not Everyone Can Afford a Holiday

According to data released by Eurostat, approximately 41.3% of the Portuguese population could not afford a one week holiday last year. Although this is higher than the European Union (EU) average, the figure is an improvement on the 2009 figure of 63.3%.

These figures place Portugal as a whole in eighth place among EU Member States whose citizens are unlikely to be able to afford to pay for a week’s holiday away from home. Romania heads the list at (58.9%), followed by Croatia (51.3%), Greece and Cyprus both at (51 %) and Italy (43,7%). On the other hand, citizens living in countries such as Sweden (9.7%), Luxembourg (10.9%), Denmark (12.2%), Austria (12.4%) and Finland (13.3%) are far more able to afford a one week vacation.

The report also shows that on average in 2018, 28.3% of citizens across the EU were unable to afford a holiday. Again this is an improvement on the 39.5% recorded in 2013.

Data released by Eurostat is based on surveys of EU citizens aged 16 and over.

Samantha Gannon

info at madeira-weekly.com