Tourism in the Reopening of the Country

The opening of the air corridor with the United Kingdom had a very positive effect on tourism in Portugal. Namely in the Algarve and Madeira Island.
There was a clear increase in new reserves, as well as a reactivation of those that had been cancelled.
The British were waiting for the lifting of the mandatory quarantine imposed by their Government in order to travel to Portugal.
There were also new reservations, motivated by the fact that Portugal was included in the list of safe countries, as well as the cancellation of trips to other destinations, still included in the list of unsafe countries, contributed to the increase in the number of visits to our Country.
In Portugal, several businessmen and companies in the tourism sector are talking about a long summer, since most of these reservations are for the months of September and October.
In relation to Madeira Island, there was a 64% increase in the number of English reservations for the region.
The German market is also showing very positive signs for tourism in the Algarve, witnessing a resumption of interest on the part of tourists and agents related to this sector.
As for National tourism, the interior of Alentejo benefited from the pandemic, with the Portuguese opting for areas where there were few cases. Rural tourism and local accommodation in each region have experienced months of intense demand, with a good occupancy rate, also reflected in September. The same happened with the northern interior of the country, in a summer marked by the search for family holidays away from the crowds, here we can give as an example Gerês with a strong demand by the Portuguese from different national regions.
In relation to Lisbon and Oporto, the majority of hotel units reopened, with the number of visits by foreigners actually being lower when compared to pre-Covid years.
In terms of investment, the City Hall of Oporto has 98 licensing processes underway for new tourist developments, of which 84 are hotels. Thus, the bet on the hotel sector remains.
This bet is mainly concentrated on 4 stars units (52%) and five stars (19%).
In Lisbon, 14 new hotels are expected to be completed by the end of 2021. There are also many
remodelling projects for hotels, offices and residential.
The supply growth will continue in the coming years, with 180 projects scheduled to open by 2022, which full capacity will exceed 15 thousand rooms. They correspond mostly to four-and five-star hotels (34% and 29% respectively).