The Hotel Association of Portugal (AHP) condemns the Government for not accepting the vaccination certificate of citizens from the United States of America, Brazil and some from the United Kingdom.
According to AHP, the Government is not “accepting the vaccination certificate of US and Brazilian citizens, as well as the vaccination certificates of Britons who are inoculated with the AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in India, when several European countries, such as Spain , France, Switzerland and Germany already do it».
Raul Martins, president of AHP, says that "this is an exclusively political decision".
“The Government is not only at odds with what is happening and forgetting a long-standing European Council orientation – that is, Member States can follow the guidelines regarding the acceptance of vaccines approved by the WHO, even if not homologated also by EMA -, as it is openly harming tourist companies and, in this way, the economic recovery of the country. It is regrettable what is happening», he adds.
«Companies are doing the impossible: they are directly contacting operators, airlines, regular customers, and what they hear is that they do not intend to return to Portugal because even vaccinated customers are subject to tests at entry, tests for frequent hotels, restaurants and other facilities when other destinations do not have this type of restrictions», he says.
"Our prime minister talks a lot about openness and that Portugal led the way for the creation of the digital certificate in the EU, but in the end this initiative and our supposed opening ended there", he adds.
«After all, we have a “bring home” certificate! Unfortunately, we do not see our prime minister concerned with the economy but only with sanitary measures conducted exclusively by the Portuguese health authorities. It is essential to see beyond our borders», he concludes.
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