British bookings increased by 400% and influenced German, Irish or French tourists
Expresso
· 26 Aug 2020
It was not only the British who made reservations for Portugal immediately after the United Kingdom announced the opening of the air corridor with the country. The decision had a contagious effect on tourists across Europe, according to Luis Araújo, President of Turismo de Portugal.
"From the moment Portugal was placed on the 'green list' of air corridors, the number of reservations for Portugal soared 130% worldwide and in the United Kingdom almost 400%", adds Luís Araújo, explaining that these data refer to the demand for airline tickets and not hospitality.
"The number of people looking for airline tickets to Portugal multiplied by ten, we had about 40,000 searches on August 19, and went up to 400,000 on August 20, the day it was announced," explains the official, stressing that, in addition to the Algarve, "we are also experiencing growth in the British market for cities".
The UK's decision to put Portugal on the list of 'safe' destinations for the British to travel without having to do 14 days' quarantine on their return - a measure in force in the country to prevent the Covid-19 pandemic - had "drag effects" to tourists from other countries. "There are markets that respond quickly, such as Germany, France, Ireland or Spain, but this effect is seen in tourists from all over Europe", says Luis Araújo.
"In September, the goal is to be able to recover 55% to 60% of the frequencies we had last year if all goes well", says the president of Turismo de Portugal.
Stressing that it is essential that the tourist offer in Portugal maintain sanitary measures to prevent Covid-19, the official draws attention to the fact that the Clean & Safe Seal has already been adopted by more than 22 thousand companies, in addition to 23 thousand workers having received training associated with these measures.
"One of the priorities now is to reactivate the event industry, to encourage companies to return to conferences in Portugal", stresses Luís Araújo, referring that the specific rules of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) in this field have been "evolutionary" ".
"We have already recovered quite a lot in relation to May and June. The work now is that the summer, from the tourist point of view, will continue in Portugal as long as possible from September, showing that it is possible to visit the country also in October, November, and December.
