LISBON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Portugal's hotel sector saw a 13 percent slump in the number of foreign tourists in December as the world economic crisis clipped travellers' wings, but for all of 2008 it still eked out 1 percent growth in arrivals.
The National Statistics Institute said on Thursday almost 7.12 million tourists stayed in Portuguese hotels and inns last year, up from 7.05 million in 2007.
Although modest, the rise contrasts with Iberian neighbour Spain's 3 percent decline -- the first fall in foreign arrivals there in at least 13 years.
Portugal, with its sunny beaches, beautiful historic sites and some of Europe's finest golf courses, is cheaper to live in and visit than most of western Europe, which attracts tourists.
Nevertheless, the institute said the numbers in the second half of 2008 clearly showed a declining trend, with the strong fall in December to 303,000 foreign visitors.
The number of nights tourists spent in Portuguese hotels fell over 2 percent for the year and plunged 14 percent in December compared to a year earlier. An average tourist's stay, including domestic tourism, was 2.3 nights.
Hotels' total revenues rose almost 1 percent to 1.96 billion euros last year, but fell 16 percent in December.
Tourism is an important source of income for the Portuguese economy, with all tourism-linked revenues accounting for over 10 percent of the gross domestic product in 2007. The number of foreign visitors to Portugal is well below Spain's 57 million, but exceeds some 5 million visiting Brazil annually.
Britain, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and France remained the main sources of foreign tourism for Portugal, the institute said. The number of nights spent by Spanish tourists in Portugal fell the most, by 9.2 percent, in 2008. (Reporting by Andrei Khalip; Editing by Ron Askew)