Speaking this week as Portugal celebrated World Tourism Day, Tourism State Secretary Ana Mendes Godinho explained that the government was working to be ready for any potential fallouts from Brexit.
“We have met with several travel agents and airlines to anticipate possible effects and to ensure that conditions of tourists and residents in both the UK and Portugal are not affected by Brexit”, Ana Mendes Godinho explained in comments to Lusa News Agency.
She added that while all parties concerned should be ready to minimise all possible impacts, “figures this year show that there has been no impact whatsoever” from the 23 June vote in Britain to leave the EU.
Latest numbers actually point to growth above that which would have been expected at the start of summer, with British tourists topping the list with an increase of 15 percent, which the Tourism Secretary said was due to Portugal’s enormous capacity to attract British tourists to these shores.
She said the campaign, of which details have not yet been made public, would also look at underlying the fact that the two nations enjoy “Europe’s oldest alliance.”
Meanwhile, statistics published this week indicate that the number of tourists visiting Portugal rose by ten percent during the first seven months of 2016, while revenue was up by 17 percent on last year for this period.
Around 42,000 new jobs have also been created since the beginning of the year in the tourism industry, which is currently responsible for six percent of Portugal’s GDP and 15 percent of all exports.
Ana Mendes Godinho also reiterated a position assumed earlier this month during which the government undertook to make Portugal a year-round destination, saying that forecasts for this coming winter “are very positive.”
This comes after Portugal Tourism last Friday launched the programme, All for All – Portuguese Tourism.
The campaign is focussed on not only promoting Portugal outside of its borders, but highlighting the diversity of the country and that there are no visitors that the country cannot accommodate. Special focus is also made on mobility, with Portugal looking to become even more wheelchair friendly.
Ana Mendes Godimho also said that one in five European tourists are aged 65 or over and that Portugal needs to ensure it is ready to welcome these tourists on a regular basis.