A plane from the Portuguese company TAP flies over Lisbon on April 5, 2021. – PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA / AFP
After the United Kingdom, Portugal will authorize tourist travel for most European countries from Monday, the Interior Ministry announced on Saturday.
People from European Union countries with an incidence of the coronavirus “less than 500 cases per 100,000 inhabitants” will be able to make “all types of travel to Portugal, including non-essential trips,” the government said in a report. communicated. However, all passengers over two years of age must present a negative PCR test of less than 72 hours before boarding.
Fine for lack of negative test
Airlines that embark passengers without testing incur “a fine of 500 to 2,000 euros per traveler,” said the Ministry of the Interior. Travel restrictions, limited to essential travel, only remain for eight countries, including five from the European Union. These are Cyprus, Croatia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Sweden, as well as South Africa, Brazil and India.
Travelers from these countries are also subject to a 14-day quarantine. Authorized essential travel concerns in particular travel for professional reasons, studies, family reunification or health reasons.
The British expected
Portugal had already given the green light for tourist travel from the United Kingdom on Friday, after the restrictions put in place in early January to contain the explosion of the Covid-19 pandemic were lifted. Links with the United Kingdom were suspended in January before being re-established in mid-April, but only for travel deemed “essential”.
Hundreds of British holidaymakers, the leading tourist market, are expected from next week in Portugal mainly in the tourist region of the Algarve (south), a boon for a sector affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. On May 29, thousands of supporters are also expected in Porto to watch the Champions League final between Manchester City and Chelsea.