INE WebInq vs SIBA — what's the difference and why both matter
Most AL hosts confuse INE WebInq (statistics) with SIBA (immigration registration). They're completely different submissions to completely different bodies. Here's a clean breakdown.
You'd be amazed how many AL hosts in Portugal have been correctly submitting SIBA for years without realising INE WebInq is a completely separate legal obligation they've never touched.
If you've never heard of WebInq, this post is for you. If you have, but you're not sure what it actually wants from you each month, this is also for you.
The two submissions, side by side
They look similar from a distance — "I'm telling the government about my guests" — but the bodies, the data and the timing are all different.
SIBA in one paragraph
SIBA wants individual records: passport number, date of birth, nationality, address. It only cares about non-Portuguese guests. It must be sent within three working days. The penalty for being late is real money. Most of you already do this.
INE WebInq in one paragraph
INE wants the story of your month: how many guests stayed (Portuguese vs foreign, broken down by country), how many nights, what was your occupancy. It is used to publish national tourism statistics. You submit it through the WebInq portal monthly. Many hosts simply don't know it exists, even though it has been mandatory for AL operators since 2018.
Why this matters
There are two reasons INE WebInq is suddenly enforceable in a way it wasn't a few years ago:
1. AIMA and INE now share data. If you're submitting Boletins on a property but never filing WebInq, that gap is visible.
2. Madeira specifically has been chasing AL operators for missing IPHH submissions since 2024. Several have been fined retroactively.
If you've never submitted WebInq, you don't need to panic — but you should bring it current going forward. The form for any month becomes available on the 1st of the next month and is due by the 10th.
How Chave AL handles it
The Statistics module computes the exact aggregates WebInq asks for:
- Guests by nationality (with the right ISO country grouping)
- Number of guest-nights
- Number of arrivals
- Length of stay distribution
- Occupancy rate, ADR (Average Daily Rate), RevPAR (Revenue per Available Room)
You can copy the numbers straight into the WebInq form, or download the export CSV.
The same module also gives you metrics most owners never bother to calculate but should: ADR and RevPAR are how you actually know whether last summer was good or just busy.
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The TL;DR: SIBA tells AIMA who is staying with you. INE WebInq tells the country how the tourism economy is doing. They are two separate boxes. Tick them both.
See our Statistics guide section for screenshots of the WebInq form and where each Chave AL number plugs in.
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