Lisbon, Porto and Cascais Top National City Brand Ranking
The metropolitan cities of Lisbon and Porto and the upmarket town of Cascais have topped an annual, national economic performance ranking by consultancy firm Bloom Consulting, which analyses business, tourism and living conditions in Portugal’s 308 municipalities.
Lisbon once again reigns supreme on this fourth, annual list, in all three categories – ‘Business’, ‘Visiting’ and ‘Living’ – followed by Porto in second, and Cascais, in third.
Rounding off the top ten are Braga, Coimbra, Sintra, Funchal, Oeiras, Faro and Setúbal.
Bloom Consulting highlighted Faro’s ascent to the top-10, having been off it since 2014, while it stressed Cascais “swapped places with Braga” in a close-cut wrangle for the last spot on the podium.
It also made special mention of Funchal, which “has not stopped growing” since the first edition of the ranking.
Conversely, Guimarães and Aveiro were conspicuous for falling on the table, with Guimarães dropping out of the top ten last year to 14th place this year, while Aveiro fell from 10th to 11th position.
Along with some changes among the top ten spots, the ranking of the top-25 also saw some jiggling this year: “There were 17 changes in positions compared to the previous year. This does not mean the downgrading of some of these municipalities, but rather the sharp rise of several municipalities that tend to assert themselves as major poles of tourism attraction, business and talent in the national context.”, Bloom Consulting explained.
Besides Lisbon and Porto, only Coimbra, Sintra, Matosinhos (16th), Maia (21st), Torres Vedras (22nd) and Mafra (25th) maintain the same positions of the last edition in the overall ranking.
Vila Nova de Gaia achieved the “most impressive growth” on the table, climbing from 34th spot to 12th place over the four editions.
In terms of regions, Lisbon and the North are the most represented in the top 25 (with seven counties each), followed by Central Portugal (six), Algarve (three), Alentejo (one) and Madeira (one).
“Although there is no representation from the Azores, the climbing of nine places by Ponta Delgada shows that the Azorean presence in the ‘top 25’ may be soon”, concludes Bloom Consulting.
Bloom’s Portugal City Brand Ranking analyses the success of the 308 Portuguese municipalities and the relative performance among them in attracting new investors, tourists and new residents. It measures this according to variables such as statistics, demand, and online surveys as well as through municipal websites and social networks.
