"As long as Germany is the second largest market of tourists to the Algarve, the decision compromises all the expectations we had of being able to have a better summer than last year", said to Lusa Elidérico Viegas, president of the Association of Hotels and Touristic Enterprises of the Algarve (AHETA).

Health authorities in Germany on Friday placed Portugal on the red list due to the increase in the incidence rate of the risk of Covid-19, which will force all travelers coming from Portuguese territory to a 14-day quarantine.

The decision will take effect at 00:00 on 29 June, and the quarantine period will be mandatory, even with a negative test, proof of complete vaccination or proof of immunity.

For the president of the Algarve's largest association of hotels, the German decision "is another blow to the expectations that entrepreneurs had for this summer, already having British and Portuguese restrictions on people traveling between those two countries."

"The German market is not as big as the British market, but it is the second most important foreign market for the Algarve, with hotels that work exclusively with this market," he recalled.

Elidérico Viegas said he was unaware of the impact that the German decision had in terms of cancelled reservations in the Algarve, "due to the fact that the German market works largely directly with tour operators".

The president of AHETA said he fears that the German decision to place Portugal on the red list "may be followed by other countries considered also as important foreign markets for sending tourists to the Algarve".

“Given the current reality of the moment, the forecasts that we had this summer to be much better than last year's are frustrated and quite compromised”, he highlighted.

Elidérico Viegas added that hoteliers "still have expectations that the Covid-19 digital vaccination certificate "can contribute to increasing the movement of people in the European Union, facilitating the opening to tourism."