Quarantine ditched for Portugal holidays with double vaccination certificates

The British Government had good news for UK holidaymakers wanting to head off to the Algarve sun this summer.

Quarantine will no longer be required for Brits taking holidays in Portugal, providing they have double vaccination certificates.
Announced on Thursday, it means people will be able to fly to Algarve resorts like Lagoa, Portimão, Almancil, Albufeira and Armação de Pêra, or take a three-day city break in Lisbon or Porto without having to go into 10 days quarantine on their return.
The UK’s Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, confirmed on Thursday that fully vaccinated audits (both shots) and all children will no longer need to quarantine from amber list countries like Portugal on their return from 4am on 19 July.
It will come as a welcome relief to Portuguese tourism chefs, hoteliers and guest house owners and those running restaurants, bars and shops that rely on a steady flux of tourists during the traditionally busy summer months of July, August and September.
Particularly as Portugal’s national statistics institute INE announced this week that non-resident tourists in Portugal (i.e., overseas holidaymakers) fell 73.7% in 2020 to €6.5 million.
Portugal welcomed 6.5 million overseas tourists in 2020, a fall “without precedent” of 73.7% on 2019 (following an increase of 7.9% in 2019) as a result of the pandemic.
According to Portugal’s ‘Tourism Statistics 2020’ most of Portugal’s international tourists came from Spain (28.5%) after having seen a decrease of 70.5% in 2020.
Taking into consideration the different types of tourism accommodation (hotels, rural retreats, villas and holiday houses to rent, local accommodation, camping sites, holiday parks and youth hostels, 2020 saw 11.7 million guests staying 30.3 million nights, but it was a reduction of 60.4% and 61.1% respectively. (After like-for-like increases of 7.4% and 4.3% for 2019 respectively)
In 2020, residents in Portugal made 14.4 million holiday trips, down by 41.1% on 2019, corresponding to 4 million persons. (down 1.4 million persons compared to 2019)
In the hotel segment, (representing 81.1% of nights and 83.9% of room revenues), the average revenue per bed was €43.1 which represented a fall of 10.5%. (+3.5% in 2019)
However, it was bed and breakfast and local accommodation such as Airbnb that suffered the worst falls in both revenues and tourist numbers. It has a 13.9% share of the market and 9.8% of revenues per bed. This was the biggest decrease for the average revenue indictor per night (-11.3% compared to +5% in 2019), having attained €29.6 million.
Making a statement on international travel in the House of Commons, the UK transport secretary said those who have received two jabs and those aged under 18 will no longer have to self-isolate for 10 days after their return to the UK – but will still have to take a PCR test on their second day back.