"We had an estimate a few weeks ago that we could lose something like 50 percent, of course, that this assessment is always a dynamic assessment and, taking into account the latest developments, we can even expect a little more losses," said the Secretary of State of Tourism.

Rita Marques, who was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the presentation of a campaign launched by Turismo do Porto and North of Portugal (TPNP) and the Porto Tourism Association (ATP), stated that, even so, the Government is “working with moderate optimism” for the sector to recover next year.

Highlighting the measures being taken by the central administration, such as “preserving employment and ensuring that companies can survive during this extraordinarily difficult year”, Rita Marques said she believes that, if the air routes are recovered, the country has “a strong probability ”of recovering tourism activity “faster”.

Asked by journalists about TAP's route plan for the North region, namely, to Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport, the Secretary of State underlined that the Government has been “very active in finding new routes” for all national airports.

Regarding the decision to leave Portugal off the list of safe destinations for travel, announced by the UK Government, Rita Marques guaranteed that there was not “any change in the planning of air operators”.

“As of yesterday [7 July], we have not had any change in the planning of the air operators regarding the commitments they had signed with us. Therefore, we continue to count that we will have two thousand flights from the United Kingdom by the end of September”, she assured.

The Secretary of State for Tourism was present on 8 July at the launch of the “Lá em Cima” campaign, which, developed by TPNP and ATP, aims to lead the Portuguese to discover and rediscover the four sub-destinations in the North region: Porto, Minho, Douro and Trás- os-Montes.

In addition to the Secretary of State and the presidents of TPNP and ATP, the session was attended by the president of the Northern Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR-Norte), Fernando Freire de Sousa, and the president of the Porto City Council, the independent Rui Moreira.