Foreigners are canceling reservations in the Algarve and Lisbon
It was a breath of relief for the tourism sector to hear António Costa’s announcement about new restrictions given the new increase in covid-19 cases – and which turned out to be ‘light’ given the fears of a darker scenario, involving the closure economy and time limits, capacity or even travel between municipalities.
The restrictions announced for hotels and restaurants involve, from December 1st, mandatory use of a mask, in addition to the presentation of a certificate of vaccination, recovery or a negative test at entry. Certificates are now mandatory to enter hotels, restaurants, gyms or events with marked seats, as announced by Costa.
“From bad to less: the digital certificate for us is not a problem – of course it hinders an operation a little, but it allows companies to work. And what we want is for them to let us work”, emphasizes Ana Jacinto, secretary general of the Association of Hotels, Restaurants and Similar in Portugal (AHRESP).
For the serial results in this phase, the restrictions implied the limits of functioning, of people per table or other heavy rules with a direct impact on the functioning or even on the movement of people.
“Our expectation was that there would be common sense, balanced and achievable measures that would not impact the operation of economic operators or people’s lives”, said the head of AHRESP.
“We are far from the scenario of a year ago. We have 87% of people vaccinated with full doses, 850,000 have already taken the third booster dose and there are 1.6 million people vaccinated against the flu”, recalls Ana Jacinto.
Making the vaccine certificate mandatory for entry into restaurants “is not dramatic, there have been times when this situation has been dealt with”, refers the secretary general of AHRESP.
“The month of December is very important for patisseries and restaurants, it is important that they were working at this time”, concludes Ana Jacinto.
HOTEL PROBLEM: FOREIGNERS CANCEL RESERVATIONS IN ALGARVE AND LISBON
Also for the Hotel Association of Portugal (AHP), “the biggest concern was to have restrictions on travel and economic activity, this is what we argued could not happen”, stresses the executive vice-president, Cristina Siza Vieira.
“Now that we’ve reached a high level of vaccination, it doesn’t make sense to have restrictions on activities, hours or capacity”, he says.
The presentation of certificates covered in hotels, events or other closed spaces “is already our known territory, it creates a little more noise for an operation but it was like that and it is like that again”, points out Cristina Siza Vieira. “Having to take a self-test is trivial, it doesn’t bother anyone anymore.”
One of the ‘loose ends’ for an AHP level of European digital certificates or the case of the British, which are outside the EU. But, as announced by António Costa, all tourists, regardless of nationality, are obliged to present a negative test before entering Portugal.
But the increase in coverage cases in Portugal is already generating a movement of cancellations, especially in hotels in the Algarve and Lisbon, by foreigners.
“There were very good expectations for Christmas and New Year’s Eve, but it is becoming apparent that people are holding back and we are seeing cancellations of reservations, especially in the Algarve and Lisbon”, says the head of the hotel association.
– News from Express, POSTAL partner newspaper