Decision tomorrow. At the end of the air corridor there is a bucket of cold water for the Algarve.

Two weeks have not passed since the opening of the air corridor between Portugal and the United Kingdom and there is already a threat that the British Government will decree mandatory quarantine for anyone who returns to the country from Portuguese lands.

The UK will report on Friday whether Portugal stays or leaves the air corridor. “We will publish a decision tomorrow [sexta-feira], based on existing data and I am not going to anticipate any value judgment, “British Health Minister Matt Hancock said in an interview with Sky News on Thursday.

“People should look at the figures and travel only if they are prepared to be quarantined, if the virus becomes infected in the destination country,” the minister added.

A the infection rate in the last seven days was 22.9 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants, above the 20 cases that the UK has stipulated as a safe metric.

In the Algarve, tourism was already gathering momentum. But the end of the green light for the airlift will be “very negative news and a monumental breach of expectations” for the hotel sector, whose estimated losses for this year are around 60 to 75% with the opening of the corridor with the United Kingdom, he says . Cristina Siza Vieira, president of the Portuguese Hospitality Association.

In fact, in this situation, hotels are already facilitating cancellations with various travel agencies and returning thousands of euros to customers with reservations.

The concern is installed, especially since the months of September and October are a period of strong demand from the English and Irish for golf.

“I am very concerned,” says Elidérico Viegas, president of the Algarve hotel association (AHETA), above all because “it makes no sense for the Algarve to be left out of the corridor when it has a very low number of cases, according to the criteria of the European Union” .

The resolution of the British Government does not only take into account health criteria. As Cristina Siza Vieira points out, “there are other logics that are being imposed, such as” taking vacations inside “and avoiding foreign exchange”.

Elidérico Viegas even stresses that the replacement of the quarantine will be reflected in the country’s economy. “It will be a severe setback if tomorrow [hoje] the decision is made “, underlines João Fernandes, president of Turismo do Algarve.

As soon as the air corridor got the green light, “there was a significant increase in bookings and a notable flow at the Faro airport”, emphasizes João Fernandes. Cristina Siza Vieira also acknowledges that she felt “a monumental boom in requests for accommodation and air transport” for the Algarve.