In another attempt to blow Portugal’s trumpet and breathe life back into the shattered tourist industry, prime minister António Costa has taken to CNN to promote the message that Portugal is safe for tourists.
In a three-minute interview broadcast earlier this week, Mr Costa said Portugal is “one of the European countries that tests most (for coronavirus) and shows some of the best ‘indicators’ in controlling the virus”.
His words came as recent outbreaks in the Algarve and Lisbon were being surgically-tackled involving the closure, yet again, of old people’s homes to visitors to ensure inmates’ safety.
Mr Costa highlighted the protocols in place between hotels and DGS health authorities to ensure all guests were adequately protected.
Although there is no system of quarantining in place when holidaymakers fly into the country, they will have their temperatures taken to make sure no one is arriving ‘sick’, he told reporter Fred Pleitegen who told viewers how Portugal was seen as a “success story” in the way it has handled the virus, particularly considering how it ‘shut down’ the country before even registering one death.
The interview coincided with the launch of Turismo de Portugal’s own campaign aimed at encouraging nationals to ‘take holidays at home’.
As PM Costa stressed, Portugal has been considered the world’s best touristic destination for the last three consecutive years (2017, 2018 and 2019): “If we have the privilege of living in the best destination in the world, we should take advantage of it”, he beamed.
Yes, we all have to protect our own health “but we also have to protest the income, employment and businesses to sustain the territories that make Portugal the best destination in the world and which depend massively on whether or not there are tourists…”
The campaign #TuPodes, Visita Portugal, represents an investment of €2 million and will run to the end of the year (click here).
Photo: https://twitter.com/antoniocostapm
