Hotel sector braced for €3Bn hit in 2020

The Portuguese Hotel Association (AHP) says it is braced for an estimated €3Bn hit to hotel receipts for 2020.

It means that unless there is a rapid and vigorous recovery, revenues from hotel bookings and business and other events are estimated to fall 70-80% which means losses of between €3.2Bn and €3.6Bn.
And the report comes as the Confederation of Tourism of Portugal has called for the launch of a programme of incentives for commercial air operators — both national and low-cost — to help encourage airlines to up their flight capacity and thereby bring tourists to kick-start the tourism sector summer season.
Reports Dinheiro Vivo, Portugal is a peripheral country whose tourist activity is highly dependant on airline traffic. It is no secret that tourism and civil aviation are the two of the areas that have been badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The return of airline services is being done “drop by drop” and forecasts in tourism activity are for significant falls in terms of receipts, particularly for the first quarter.
In 2019, tourism revenues in Portugal skyrocketed to €18.4Bn. the AHP estimates that the contribution from national hotels to this amount was €4.4Bn. Taking into account this amount, the association undertook some projections.
If revenues shrink by around 70%, this means that the hotel sector will suffer a loss of around €3,2Bn. However, it the fall in revenues climbs as high as 80% the losses will be even worse, standing at around €3.6Bn.
AHP carried out a survey of its members to measure the temperature of the sector. In the third phase of this survey, carried out from the 15 to 29 May – one of the conclusions reached is that the majority surveyed say they have experienced a fall in occupation rates of 70-90% during the first six months of the year. However, looking at the total for 2020 they forecast some improvement.
The majority believe that the fall in occupation rates will be between 50-70% which reflects an expectation for some improvements in terms of attracting tourists in the second half of the year.
In May there were some hotels opening their doors, but even so, 72% continued to be closed. Those that did open did not have a total installed capacity available. From this month more hotels have been preparing to reopen in time for the summer, without using total available capacity.
On 4 June, the Portuguese Tourism office, Turismo de Portugal unveiled its 99-point return to normal package for the Portuguese tourism sector which represents more than 12% of national GDP.
The 99 measures cover everything linked directly and indirectly to tourism including various branches of activity and matters from health issues, mobility, accessibility and marketing to support for companies and employment initiatives.