The significant progresses in information and communication technologies have contributed to making non-tourism services increasingly tradable. With the evolution of digital technologies, it is expected that international trade in this type of services will continue to grow strongly in the next years. In Portugal, exports and imports of non-tourism services are already an important component of international trade in goods and services. Thus, it is relevant to analyse the characteristics of the Portuguese firms that participate in international trade of these services.

In the universe of international traders of non-tourism services, it is possible to distinguish between firms that only export; that only import; and firms that export and import (two-way traders). In Portugal, international trade in non-tourism services is highly concentrated in two-way traders: these firms represented around 45 percent of total firms and around 90 percent of total trade values in 2014-2015. The concentration of exports and imports of non-tourism services in two-way traders is common to most sectors of activity.

For more details, see João Amador, Sónia Cabral and Birgitte Ringstad (2019),“How heterogeneous are Portuguese international traders of non-tourism services?” in "Portuguese economic growth: a view on structural features, blockages and reforms”, Banco de Portugal.

Prepared by Sónia Cabral. The analyses, opinions, and findings expressed above are those of the authors and do not necessarily coincide with those of Banco de Portugal or the Eurosystem.

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