[ad_1]
The president of Turismo do Porto y Norte de Portugal said that 20 hotels in the city of Porto closed in the first ten days of November, representing 3,200 empty beds, and called for support measures.
“In the city of Porto, we already have about two dozen hotels to close, which represents more than 3,200 beds,” said the president of that entity, Luis Pedro Martins, in a telephone interview.
The official called on the Government to strengthen measures to support entrepreneurs in the hotel and restaurant sector.
“I ask the Government not to stop supporting these companies and to adapt as circumstances also change. This is very important. Since the main objective is to keep them active or ready to start operating at any time and the other is to keep the jobs “.
Luís Pedro Martins pointed out that “there must be measures so that entrepreneurs keep their jobs and their jobs ready to operate from the moment we get out of this situation. [de pandemia]”.
The president of Tourism in Porto and North of Portugal (TPNP) made a second appeal, but addressed to employers and workers in the sector, so that continue to “believe” in the potential of the region and so that they continue to use the “support instruments to maintain their activity”.
Luis Pedro Martins He also asked the Portuguese, the “national clients”, so that they can make a contribution to the sector. on which more than 400 thousand people depend nationwide, to use restaurants, hotels or other equipment in the hotel and catering sector, because they are “very safe places”, but “always respecting the rules, because it is a health issue” .
The Hotel Dom Henrique, a unit of reference in the center of Porto, has “temporarily suspended the hotel business since November 1 due to a lack of tourists,” confirmed to Lusa the Front office of the structure.
The Infante Sagres Hotel, in Praça Filipa de Lencastre, is also “temporarily closed, due to the context caused by the covid-19 pandemic and the measures to prevent the spread of the virus,” confirmed an official source from that hotel, stating that The hotels of the Yeatman group, in Vila Nova de Gaia, and Vintage House, in the Douro river valley, in Pinhão, continue to “function normally”.
In the Spanish hotel chain Eurostars, Porto Douro, located on Avenida Gustavo Eiffel, closed on Monday and the Hotel Exe Almada Porto, on Rua do Almada, closed today, because “there are no tourists in the city” due to the pandemic and the new Government restrictions, one of the reception employees of the Eurostars Porto Centro Hotel, which is still open, told Lusa.
Vila Galé Porto, located next to the Campo 24 de Agosto metro station, Hotel Teatro, on Sá da Bandeira street, Hotel Inca, on Praça Coronel Pacheco, in Cedofeita, are other units that chose to close this month in the city of Port.
The Government announced last weekend the curfew between 11:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. on weekdays, from November 9 to November 23, in the 121 municipalities most affected by the pandemic, being that, during the Two next weekends, the curfew begins at 1:00 p.m. in the same 121 counties.
On October 11, and with the proximity of the low season for tourism, questioned by Lusa, the president of the Portuguese Association of Hotels (AHP), Cristina Siza Vieira, admitted that there were some hotel groups that had already indicated their intention to close some units due to lack of demand.
According to a quick estimate released by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), on October 29, tourist activity will not have recovered in September, having registered 1.4 million guests and 3.6 million overnight stays, which corresponds to falls at 52.2% and 53.4%, respectively.
