Algarve Situation Report, Saturday 20^th March 2021.
Covid-19: MotoGP and Formula 1 without an audience is “overzealous” – hoteliers
Albufeira, Faro, 19th March 2021 (Lusa) – The possibility that Portugal’s MotoGP and Formula 1 grand prizes may not have an audience is “an excess of zeal”, considered today the president of the main Algarve hotel association, defending its realization with limited capacity.
The president of the Association of Hotels and Tourist Enterprises of the Algarve (AHETA), Elidérico Viegas, reacted thus to a news item from the newspaper Expresso, that points to the Government’s intention to prevent the presence of spectators at the Formula 1 Grand Prix, which takes place between 30th April and May 2nd, in the Algarve.
“There seems to be an excess of zeal on the part of the Government, since, on the one hand, it authorizes events and the holding of events such as weddings indoors, and on the other hand it does not allow the attendance of some sporting events, especially football and the Formula 1 and MotoGP grand prizes”, said the associative leader to the Lusa agency.
The absence of an audience on the stands of the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, in Portimão, as a measure to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, was confirmed by a Government source to the newspaper Expresso and, according to Elidérico Viegas, “calls into question the coming of many tourists foreign and national”.
According to the news today from that newspaper, “until the end of this period of lack of definition”, events such as the final games of the 1st football league and the Formula 1 Grand Prix “will not have an audience”, unlike what happened last year, in this case Formula 1.
In response RTA, AMAL, AIHSA, AHETA AND NERA find F1 strange without an audience after “months of work with public entities”
The five Algarve entities say that it was “with surprise” that they saw in the media today the disclosure of an alleged impediment to the public’s presence in the Portuguese Grand Prix of Formula 1, which will be held in the Algarve on the 2nd May.
They are surprised at what happened, as they did not receive any official communication from the Government regarding this decision. As explained in a statement, “for months now”, they have been working with the DGS, the Regional Health Authority and the security forces and Civil Protection to ensure that the F1 Grand Prix of Portugal takes place with all the security conditions for both residents and visitors: “And nothing points to such an eventuality (absence of public)”.

Covid-19 / One year: Food support is still vital for many families in the Algarve.
Faro, 20th Mar 2021 (Lusa) – One year after the beginning of the first mandatory confinement to combat the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, food support in the Algarve is still vital for many families to have access to daily meals.
The region’s economic dependence on the tourism sector and restrictions on international travel have forced many companies to close their doors, resort to lay-offs or lay off workers, increasing unemployment.
Ana (fictitious name) worked at Faro airport, but was discharged in August and stopped earning the “little more than a thousand euros” she received each month. At the age of 40, with two children and bills to pay, she was forced to “live with family members” and ask for food support.
“It was complicated. We had meals with sausages and eggs, more basic things, because the money doesn’t stretch” she reveals, while waiting at the door of the Refood institution, in Faro, to collect the goods she takes home, “twice a week”.
Unemployment also forced her to take her daughter out of kindergarten to “save 250 euros”, but, in spite of her current situation, she was surprised by a Social Security letter in December to re-frame her children “from step A to B”, which implies a “reduction in family allowance” and the “school support” that I received.
Read the full story here.

Covid-19: Algarve achieved objective to avoid hospital rupture – regional coordinator.
The Algarve managed to avoid hospital rupture at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, fulfilling the main objective of the authorities, having also welcomed patients from other areas of the country, the secretary of state coordinating the pandemic in the region said today.
In a hearing with all the regional coordinators held today in the Assembly of the Republic, Jorge Botelho, who is Secretary of State for Decentralization and Local Administration, said that the peak of contagions in the region occurred on January 20th, but health services managed to avoid a breakdown, after a pandemic start with “ups and downs”, an “especially calm” summer and a “worsening” in October.
“I would say that the big goal we always had was that the cases identified in Intensive Care and people who had to go to the hospital never went through what the regional health services could support. And, fortunately, the Hospital [Centro Hospitalar] Universitário do Algarve [CHUA] managed to somehow respond to the needs of the population, activating the four phases”, he said.
With phase four of the CHUA Contingency Plan, a response unit to Covid-19 was opened at Portimão Arena, which has since been deactivated, which received “170 patients” and “104 were in support of people from other parts of the country”, such as the Alentejo or Lisbon and the Tagus Valley, quantified.
Jorge Botelho said that the “articulation” between entities was a constant and that the Regional Public Health did not follow the options of other regions and “did not resort” to “army trackers or complementary services”, because “he understood that in the region it was possible to resolve the question”.

The best film of a regional tourist destination in the world is Algarve.
The film of the promotional campaign “The Algarve is well for you” won the Golden Star in the international category “Tourist Destinations – Regions” of «The Golden City Gate 2021», film and multimedia festival of tourism held within the scope of ITB Berlin, the largest tourism fair in the world, which this year takes place in a completely virtual format”, RTA announced in a statement.
Produced by New Light Pictures for Turismo do Algarve, “The Algarve looks good” was chosen by the festival jury as the best in the world, surpassing the remaining films from regional destinations in Berlin, Germany – one of the most important tourist markets for the Algarve, with an annual record of approximately two million overnight stays in the region’s hotels in the pre-pandemic period.
RTA explains that created with the objective of motivating national and foreign tourists to enjoy summer holidays in the region, reinforcing confidence in the «Algarve» brand and the notoriety of the main tourist destination in the country, the campaign features a motivational film starring one of today’s most successful international travel influencers, @explorerssaurus, “who share unique experiences in exceptional places scattered throughout the region, such as waterfalls, picturesque villages, long sandy beaches and crystal clear or more remote waters and hidden between cliffs “, states the same document.
For the president of Turismo do Algarve, João Fernandes, “the distinction has a special flavour, as it is the international recognition of the work done in the tourism promotion of the region, and makes us continue to believe that everything that happened in the last year will not prevent you from coming back in force. Very soon we will be able to discover how well this Algarve is and enjoy the vast tourist offer of the destination. This award, within the scope of ITB Berlin, reinforces the message that the region is prepared to receive tourists from different origins in safety”.
RTA recalls that the film had already been awarded at ART & TUR – International Tourism Film Festival 2020, which took place in Viseu, and at Finisterra – Arrábida Film Art & Tourism Festival 2020, in Sesimbra.