“The number of reservations is very high”, there are “many” tourist accommodation units that “are fully booked” and, therefore, “there are very good expectations” for Easter, the president of Turismo do Alentejo Ribatejo, Vítor Silva, told Lusa.

Reservations made in Alentejo accommodation units are mainly coming from Portuguese tourists, he said, stressing that the internal market has “held up” and “sustained”, the region in the “last two years”.

According to Vítor Silva, “for a few years now” the Alentejo “has been a very dear destination for the Portuguese”.

As for foreign tourism, “it is only now that this is starting to see some movement”, he indicated, showing “concerns” in relation to the Brazilian and North American markets, respectively, the second and fourth foreign markets in the Alentejo in 2019.

These are “very important markets” for the Alentejo that “already showed a very strong desire to open up, but the war situation, even more than the pandemic, is delaying a little more pronounced reopening of these markets”, explained.

“If the war situation continues”, the Brazilian and North American markets “will be greatly affected”, mainly due to the possible rise in the prices of air travel tickets and the “psychological factor”, he stressed.

Portugal is “a considerable distance from the war” in Ukraine and tourists from the Brazilian and North American markets “do not travel if they do not have a sense of security”, he stressed.