European Commission Executive Vice-President Valdes Dombrovkis believes tourism is recovering in Portugal and he also hopes that the sector will continue to contribute to the economy of the country currently holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. SchengenVisaInfo.com Reports.

“With regard to tourism in Portugal, we can see that the sector is already gradually reopening and tourists are arriving again. Therefore, it is expected that it will also contribute to the recovery of the Portuguese economy,” said the Vice President of the European Commission, said.

During an informal meeting with European finance ministers at the Centro Cultural de Belém in Lisbon, Dombrovskis also highlighted how the tourism sector in Portugal has gradually grown over the past decade. However, he also noted that there are communication, cultural, transport and aviation events in Portugal, which are severely affected by the restrictions imposed to prevent the virus from spreading and which need to be worked out.

On the other hand, Portugal opened its borders on May 17th to all passengers arriving from countries of the European Union, countries of the Schengen area and Great Britain. Travelers from countries with fewer than 500 SARS-2 cases per 100,000 people in the last 14 days are allowed to travel to Portugal for tourism.

A negative test result of COVID-19 must be presented, which must be carried out within 72 hours before arrival in Portugal.

Previously, Portugal had lifted travel restrictions on the UK and Brazil, allowing certain categories from those two countries to enter the US Area.

The Vice-President also spoke about Portugal’s recovery and resilience plan, which was presented to the European Commission in mid-April. He expects a fund of EUR 16.6 billion (of which EUR 13.9 billion for grants), which should be “strongly oriented towards diversification, business and increasing the added value of business and innovation. “

Dombrovksis believes that the implementation of this plan will bring Portugal’s economic growth into equilibrium.

In addition, last week the Portuguese government unveiled Building the Future, a tourism recovery plan that calls for an investment of over EUR 6 million in the tourism sector and which appears to surpass the EUR 27 billion target for tourism income 2027. The The ambassadors of the European Union have also agreed on the digital COVID-19 certificate on Thursday, which will facilitate the movement in EU countries from this summer.

Last year the European Commission almost agreed €500 million to help Portugal, Belgium and Romania‘s Airlines amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

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