Algarve Situation Report Wednesday 7^th July 2021

 

João Fernandes says that despite being good news, the German decision does not have immediate effect.

The removal of Portugal from the German list that prevented the entry of travellers into the country without quarantine is “good news”, but tour operators will take time to recover the activity, considered today the President of Turismo do Algarve.

“Nevertheless, this is good news, it allows non-essential flights to be carried out from Germany and is exempt from quarantine for those who have completed vaccination, have immunity certificate, or who undergo a PCR or antigen test on their return” , said the President of the Algarve Tourism Region, João Fernandes, to Lusa agency.

In reaction to the decision announced on Monday by Germany to remove Portugal from the list of countries with a ban on entry into the country due to the high prevalence of the Delta strain of the Covid-19 virus, João Fernandes recalled that, before the imposition of these limitations on travel, there were “311 flights planned for July from Germany”, but warned that these numbers will not be reset immediately.

“It would correspond to more than 56,000 airplane seats. A large part of these operations were cancelled, tour operators and airlines were, with the announcement of the 25th, demobilizing their operations, and, therefore, it will be necessary to resume all this dynamic”, he argued.

João Fernandes stressed that the image of Portugal, after the announcement that imposed the restrictions, “has suffered a major setback” and now it is necessary to “see how it is possible to capture this demand again”, in the face of “great distrust from the consumers themselves in relation to decisions that are changed at every moment and that often leave travellers at their destination having to anticipate their return”.

“And this whole process, contrary to what would be expected with the digital certificate, is unfortunately hampering what would be an opening expected by everyone” in the regional tourism sector, he lamented.

João Fernandes said he hopes that “there will be a stabilization of the rules based on the [digital] certificate that was agreed by the Member States of the European Union” and that its use is already more normalized after the main summer months and in the months of greater demand from the German market to the Algarve.

MotoGP/Portugal: FIM President “very happy” with return to Algarve.

The President of the International Motorcycling Federation (FIM), the Portuguese Jorge Viegas, was “very happy” with the return of the MotoGP World Championship to Portugal, after a second race in the Algarve was announced today.

Speaking to Lusa agency, Jorge Viegas said that he is “very happy that MotoGP is once again visiting Portugal, demonstrating the confidence of the FIM and Dorna in the national organizational capacity”.

“In addition to being the penultimate in the World Cup, which could be decisive for the attribution of the titles, I am convinced that we will have the stands full to applaud Miguel Oliveira and all the other protagonists”, stressed Jorge Viegas.

The Portuguese who manage the destinations of world motorcycling also highlighted the fact that Portugal has, with this race, “12 races of the various FIM World Championships in Portugal, the next being the Resistance – 12 Hours of Estoril”.

Portugal will host a second MotoGP World Championship event from November 5th to 7th, after the Australian GP was cancelled, due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Thus, the Portuguese race integrates, for the second time this year, and third in the last two, the calendar of the world championship in motorcycling speed.

This time it will be the penultimate round, before the end of the season, scheduled for Valencia (Spain) a week later.

In 2020, Miguel Oliveira (KTM) won the GP of Portugal, which took place for the first time at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve. In 2021, in the race held on April 18th, victory was for Frenchman Fábio Quartararo (Yamaha), while Miguel Oliveira was 16th, after a fall suffered in the opening laps.