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Foreigners, emigrants or residents of Madeira and the Azores can, during the Easter period, move between municipalities on the Portuguese mainland to travel to hotels or local accommodation establishments where they have made a reservation, but this rule does not apply to residents Portuguese residing in the national territory.
This was one of the several questions posed by the Portuguese Association of Hotels, Restaurants and Similar (AHRESP) to the Secretary of State for Tourism, taking into account a series of doubts about the operation of accommodation and restaurants in the situation of a pandemic with the state. currently in force and the “cautious” de-definition plan announced as of April 5, still subject to how the outbreak could evolve.
The Secretary of State for Tourism, Rita Marques, explained to AHRESP that in the Easter period -considered the beginning of the tourist season- only citizens who are not residents of the country and are “obliged to travel through several provinces” to be able to be Hotels authorized to arrive are the exception to the rule that restricts travel, similar to what was adopted in the period from October 30 to November 3.
Portuguese residents in the territory will be prevented from traveling between municipalities during the Easter period, even if it is for the purpose of staying in a hotel, maintaining the rule of allowing “travel by non-resident citizens of mainland Portugal to places of proven permanence. “, as is the case of tourist accommodation. The objective is” to prevent the transmission of the covid-19 disease, otherwise we would be distorting the objective of the standard, “Rita Marques specified to AHRESP.
“Regarding the restriction of circulation between municipalities, the current regulations are similar to the previous regulations that were already in force in other festive seasons, so the understanding cannot be different. In other words, there is a driving ban on the weekend of March 20 and 21, which, given the moderation required to travel during the Easter period, will be applied uninterruptedly as of March 26 ”, underlined the Secretary of State for Tourism.
Hotels can start serving breakfast in the room from April 19.
Restaurants within hotels, and the way they can reopen, represent one of the main areas of fog for AHRESP. The Secretary of State for Tourism clarified that in this case the rules of the remaining restoration are applied, recalling that the resolution of the Council of Ministers “defines a strategy to lift the containment measures in the context of combating the covid disease pandemic. -19, by establishing a schedule of deflation phases, which can be modified according to the evolution of the epidemiological situation ”.
We hope that the discipline inherent in the opening of restaurants will be intensified, specifically in the decree that regulates the renewal of the state of emergency, and that will establish the conditions for the opening of hotel bars and restaurants, if the evolution of the epidemiological situation allows it. ”, Said Rita Marques to the association of the sector.
As of April 19, will we be able to serve breakfast and other meals in the room, with a maximum of four people per table? To AHRESP’s question, the Secretary of State for Tourism replied that “if the premise” of the “favorable evolution of the epidemiological situation” is maintained, it is expected that as of April 19, restaurants, cafes and patisseries can be accommodated. a maximum of four people six people per table and on terraces, “until 10pm on weekdays and until 1pm on weekends and holidays”.
As of May 3, the hotel restaurants will be able to serve breakfast in the lounge, with a maximum of six people per table, which is based “on the verification of the same premise, favorable evolution of the epidemiological situation and alteration of the legislation “. regarding the renewal of the state of emergency to accommodate the fixed schedule ”, as Rita Marques clarifies to AHRESP.
Hotels can promote at Easter, but without “the purpose of increasing the influx of people”
Another fundamental question raised by the association was in the sense of whether the hotels can carry out promotions for the Easter period, even if the advertising does not imply a price reduction. According to the Secretary of State for Tourism, taking into account the decree that prohibits the advertising of commercial practices with reduced prices, “this practice will only be allowed if it is not exercised abusively.” And the example of promotions that focus on “a large percentage of products, and if marketing or another means of generating advertising is used” advances on that basis, we consider it an abusive practice to the extent that the purpose is to increase the influx of people. “.
“Anything, even in the abstract, capable of increasing the influx of people should be considered abusive. Promotions should only be allowed without being associated with advertising or marketing campaigns,” explained Rita Marques.
According to the Secretary of State for Tourism, “also” the dissemination of promotional brochures or promotions through SMS, emails / newsletters, audio messages or other similar means – unless it is exclusively to promote “online sales” – results , with probability, in the increase of the influx and presence of people in the store, for which we consider that it is not allowed to the extent that it promotes the effect that the prohibition is intended to avoid ”.
For AHRESP, the various questions posed to the Government are aimed at “allowing companies to prepare in a timely manner for the new stages that lie ahead.” After receiving the answers from the Secretary of State for Tourism, focused solely on the operating rules of tourist accommodation, the association says that it awaits “with great expectation, the publication of the regulations, as well as the answer to the remaining questions.” .
