NERA – Business Association of the Algarve Region says that entrepreneurs "will continue to fight" without "lowering their arms in the face of the crisis", not least because the Algarve has "all the conditions to continue to believe in the importance of tourism" due to its «consolidated image and international prestige».
In a note sent to the press, Vítor Neto, president of NERA, says that entrepreneurs in the Algarve are feeling «in their own skin the gravity of the situation caused by the brutal collapse of the main economic sector in the region – tourism – with an impact not only on accommodation and in restoration, but in many other sectors, involving thousands of companies».
For this official, an "intelligent approach, based on objective data" is necessary because "we are facing a global crisis in one of the most important sectors of the world economy (GDP, Revenue/Exports, Employment), led by the richest and most developed countries of the world, starting with the USA, which only proves the economic consistency of a sector with decades of success».
The fall of around 75% of world tourism, reaching all continents, «should not be surprising», confirming «only one of the three scenarios foreseen in May by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) and which was not given importance in Portugal”, accuses Vítor Neto.
This is despite the fact that NERA "made an effort to sensitize entrepreneurs, calling for caution taking into account precisely these scenarios".
For the president of this association, it is certain that «the resumption of international tourism will really happen», but «its pace and consistency will depend on several factors».
Vítor Neto outlines two possible scenarios: one with a "moderate recovery (of uncertain value) of tourism from the 2nd half of 2021, with a perspective of positive evolution in 2022 and reaching values close to 2019, in 2023" or another, with an "even more moderate recovery, resulting from a context of still difficult control context of the pandemic, with a slower recovery process in 2021 and 2022 and which will continue until 2023, reaching only in 2024, values close to 2019" .
«Portugal, in order to guarantee a first-rate place in this process, must achieve high levels of control of the pandemic, not only in the Algarve, but throughout the country, which guarantee it a status and image of health security within the parameters required internationally». says Vítor Neto.
«In the current context – extremely complex and full of uncertainties – in the fight and control of the pandemic at international and national level, companies in Portugal and in particular in the Algarve, will have to continue to resist to stay alive and fight to keep up. the process resumes at the speed that circumstances demand”, he concludes.
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