Covid-19. Portuguese tourism sector hits rock bottom

The rain and the wind sweep a very silent Porto. In front of the town hall should have been held a Christmas market. This year, no crowds came to gather to taste the famous “Pasteis de Nata”, this iconic pastry. Portugese. Only a café terrace has remained open on which a few people are sipping a drink.

In a country of 10 million people, the pandemic has claimed more than 6,000 lives and, like the rest of the planet, the tourism in Portugal is suffering the full brunt of the crisis due to Covid-19. The flagship of economic activity, the sector represents 8.7% of gross domestic product. We stopped in mid March. We tried to resume on June 15, but there was an increase in infections , indicates Leonel Soares, manager of a tourist agency, which lost 20% of its turnover.

Catastrophic year

One year catastrophic for Vincent Poulingue, director of the luxury hotel Crown Plaza, in the modern district of Boavista to the west of Porto. Even in the worst case scenarios of economic crises, we could not have expected such a drop in activity, he laments. It is an incomparable crisis. Even that of 2008, it was not like that. We were losing 50, 60% of turnover, that’s 80%.

According to the authorities, 60,000 jobs are expected to be lost in the tourism sector this year. The Portuguese state announced aid in the spring: partial unemployment covered up to 70% of social security, deferral of charges and taxes, guaranteed loans, etc.

Resilience

To resist, Marianne Baillot, director of Cocorico , a tourist apartment hotel in the Old Porto district was able to benefit from a loan of € 50,000 from a bank and a grant of € 40,000 via Support , an aid program for micro and small businesses affected by the crisis.

It kept us going and I have a big group behind, which helps, but not everyone ”, says this energetic young woman who arrived in Porto four years ago and has been running the place since 2018: All the results are in free fall. We live from day to day. You have to be combative, it’s a question of resilience.

The following ? People are going to want to move. Like a kind of revenge ”, according to Frédéric Frère, Managing Director of Travelstore, a business tourism company The psychological factor will come into play. I am optimistic overall, although I know the next few months will be difficult. My horizon is the start of next summer. A perspective that all professionals in the sector hope, even if 2021 could only serve to recover the losses of the year 2020.

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