The Tourists are Returning
Yeah?
I read a New York Times article last week about tourism returning to Portugal. They claimed that we were are 20% of the levels experienced at this time of year, pre-pandemic.
If this is 20% I can’t imagine what 100% will be like on the Cascais beaches. You might be surprised to learn that the photo above was taken at 19h00 (7 pm for you Americans). Many sunbathers actually went into the water, which was 17 degrees Celcius/62.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Burrrrrr….
And an unfortunate update. Last week British visitors attended the Champions League Football final in Porto:
Another week, another wave of concern over the maskless, drunken, tightly packed behaviour of football fans. This time it’s the Champions League final, which Chelsea won in Porto last night, that has experts worried, Público reports. Not so much for the risk of immediate transmission, although that’s obviously a concern, but because of the potential “corrosion of the state’s authority” and “legitimacy” to impose restrictions. One expert described the celebrations as the exact antithesis of all the restrictions we’ve been subject to.
It turns out it was not only Portugal that was concerned. Now the UK is imposing quarantine restrictions on those that visit Portgual causing many to cancel reservations.
There are a few theories being bandied about as to why the UK shifted Portugal back to amber, thus requiring significant additional costs to travel, including quarantining or even denial of health insurance coverage. The one I see standing out is that the UK economy is under water, thus by keeping the population in country, the funds folks have saved for travel will be spent within the borders And I'm sitting at home waiting and hoping. Please, powers that be, open up and I'll come spend my savings to boost the Portuguese economy as I scout out where I hope to land when applying for residency.