In an interview with the BBC, foreign minister Augusto Santos Silva also said that he was hopeful that an “air bridge” between the UK and Portugal could be finalised by as early as the end of the month. Such an agreement could allow for any visitors returning from a visit to Portugal to avoid quarantine rules back in the UK.


When discussing quarantines for tourists and travellers, the minister described these as being “an enemy of tourism”, however he stated that he respected any decisions being taken by the UK government regarding arrivals into their own country.


When it came to the matter of discussing quarantine for those arriving in Portugal, Santos Silva said that Portugal would not be imposing this and added that talks were ongoing between the two governments to confirm certain “rules” that need to be in place.


According to Santos Silva, the country will be relying on temperature checks at the airports and there is also the possibility of random testing being applied to passengers, as part of an EU coordination.


Portugal may be welcoming visitors to the country this summer, however the country will be very different for those who are regular visitors, with restrictions on bars, restaurants, tourist attractions and nightlife still in place to allow for social distancing to be maintained and to reduce the amount of people gathering at any time.


Currently, establishments are only able to stay open until 11pm at night, a far cry from the early hours closing times experienced in tourism hot spots across the country in the past.


Beaches in Portugal are open to the public from 6 June however a new traffic light system will be in place to allow beach goers to be able to assess how busy each beach is before they travel thanks to an app. Those enjoying beaches will also have to adhere to social distancing rules which include distances between groups and shades.


Meanwhile, the Minister of State and Economy, Pedro Siza Vieira, said in parliament this week that the tourism sector “will certainly have a slower recovery” but that, on the demand side, both the Government and the businessmen of the sector are “less pessimistic” about the situation than a month ago.


Pedro Siza Vieira also highlighted the hypothesis of the creation of air corridors within Europe and revealed that, in the case of Portugal, negotiations with Germany are already at an advanced stage as well as those being discussed with the UK.


Last year, the United Kingdom maintained its dominance within the tourism market in Portugal. Between 2013 and 2019, the number of British guests in Portugal doubled, reaching 2.1 million in 2019 with the Brits favourite tourist spot being the Algarve where British tourists accounted for more than a third of the total overnight stays.


This year is looking like a very different story for the Algarve with occupancy levels expected to reach only 30 percent, something that “had never been experienced” in the region, said the president of the Portuguese Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies (APAVT).
“Any dialogue you have with travel agents and hoteliers in the Algarve, if we think about June, July, August and September, we will be talking, at best, about 30 percent occupation or business level,” said Pedro Costa Ferreira during a digital conference.


Pedro Costa Ferreira pointed out that the number reveals “a 70 percent drop” in turnover in the Algarve, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, “something that had never been experienced as a company or region”, but, even so, “much better than the April prospects”.
The official defended that this is a different crisis from the others experienced before, since “it is a disruption of supply and demand” and that “it will affect the regions of Lisbon, Porto and the Algarve much more”, compared to other areas of the country.


In the specific case of the Algarve, as it is “the region that depends most on tourism and international air bridges”, he stressed.
“The big challenge will be to maintain a reference structure for the Algarve’s hotel and entertainment offer”, he suggested, emphasising that the Algarve “has to survive the crisis”.


With the beginning of the lack of definition and the arrival of the first international flights to the Algarve region, the president of APAVT underlined that the first steps “are essential to increase confidence and generate an increase in demand”.


While Portugal prepares to welcome British tourists it is a different story across the border with Spain. According to a report by the BBC, the Spanish government has revealed that it will only allow British tourists into Spain this summer if the rate of Covid-19 infection in the United Kingdom decreases significantly, and mandatory quarantine is also expected.