After 18 months of restrictions, Portugal has reopened its doors for Brazilians, aiming to revive tourism in the country, receive visitors, especially at the end of summer – a period with a great abundance of tourists. To have an idea of how eagerly this reopening was expected, according to Latam, in the first 24 hours after the report of the end of restrictions, the airline registered an increase of 300% in the search for airline tickets from Brazil to Lisbon.
The decision, which took effect on the 1st of September, after being published in the Diário da República, is valid until the 16th of September. However, according to the director of Portuguese Tourism in Brazil, Bernardo Barreiros, only a highly negative event would revoke the permission, and that the “perspective is for relieving rather than having more restrictions”.
“Portugal closed down and requested the Portuguese to comply to the rules until we could be sure that the national health system was in complete control of the pandemic and of the number of hospital beds. This has happened. It makes no sense to continue with the restrictions. That’s why I say: “I see no way of going back to them, unless there is a catastrophe”, said the director, in a speech aligned with the document that allows Brazilians to enter, informing that the decision can be reevaluated “at any point, depending on the evolution of the situation of the epidemic”.
In practice, passengers from Brazil no longer need to be quarantined in order to enter Portugal. While the governments of both countries discuss the adoption of an acknowledgement that accepts as valid the various types of vaccines, what Brazilians need to do is to undergo a Covid-19 test before embarking
And there is a very simple explanation for Portugal’s desire to promote tourism for Brazilians, since, outside of Europe, Brazil is the country that most takes visitors to Portugal. And this number had shown itself to be very promising before the pandemic: 1.3 million Brazilians in 2019 – 13.9% more than in the year before. In 2021, however, from January to July, the decline was of -71% of Brazilian visitors, according to the Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE).
Consequently, the amount of money spent by Brazilian tourists in Portugal also declined considerably. In the first semester of 2021, visitors from Brazil “only” spent 2.4 billion euros, a much lower number when compared to what they spent in 2019, representing a 67.8% decrease. According to the Banco de Portugal, this was the lowest amount in the last two decades.
*Restrictions and liberations relative to trips in 2021 may suffer alterations according to the incidence of new cases of Covid-19. Always seek information that is up-to-date.
