This paper analyses the influence of the tourism industry in the recent evolution of Portugal, in economic and social terms. The study is based in a simple macro and microeconomic models about the influence of tourism in countries. The data used were collected in the Portuguese National Institute of Statistics and by the European Union Eurostat, and relate to the period 2011-7. The Tourism Industry had a very significant impact in the reduction of the unemployment, the increase in the level of economic growth, and in the improvement of the balance of the Portuguese external accounts in the last three years. Moreover, that positive change was done by effectively developing the entrepreneurship skills of the Portuguese population and by creating some form of “Popular Capitalism”. For the future two scenarios may happen – the “Bubble” scenario and the “Miracle” scenario. We analyse the two scenarios addressing five specific questions Will tourism increase wages and skills? Will tourism reduce unemployment and put the country near full employment? Wil tourism reduce the NAIRU? Will Tourism be a decisive factor of societal transformation in the country? Will tourism be a bubble that will burst? We believe that Tourism in Portugal is much more a miracle than a bubble, but, in order to provide the country with all its potential benefits, complementary policies are needed in other sectors like the housing market, the environment or even the transport system. The novelty and originality of this paper are that we provide an analysis of the Tourism sector within a dynamic and macroeconomic scope – this perspective is usually absent from the texts that have been published which relate to sector or regional questions.