Bad dream or sad reality? COVID-19 is a bit of both. In Lisbon, where travelers tread the wind roses, waves and caravels of the cobblestones, nothing resonates. Not even the noise of suitcases on wheels which had this obsessive that it never stopped ... Like the flood of tourists, which represented, in 2019, a traffic of 31 million travelers at Humberto airport Delgado, 17.1% of GDP and 100,000 jobs in Portugal. Logically, the pandemic has caused a drastic drop in these figures. Tourism represented 8.1% of GDP in 2020, a drop of 56.4% according to the Confederation of Tourism of Portugal. Impressive figures, which make it possible to grasp the issue of progressive deconfinement, which began on April 5 in the country with the reopening of catering establishments,starting with the terraces of restaurants and cafes, but also that of museums, monuments and shops up to 200m².
Read also: Travel to Portugal: deconfinement, quarantine ... How the summer of 2021 is shaping up
April 5, therefore.
A day to be remembered.
The sun had decided to be there, shining generously on the terraces.
The day before this great reopening day, which also marked the second stage of Portugal's deconfinement plan, which began on March 15 with the opening of nurseries, kindergartens and 1st cycle, hairdressers, bookstores, libraries ... The time was up to the great spring cleaning, before the installation of the terraces and that, on April 19, of the restaurants, cafes and pastry shops.
The electric air is responsible for the excitement of the dress rehearsals.
A whole organization, which Alexis Bourrat, at the head of the Boubou's restaurant, tells:
“We had to bring in all the employees a week before, train them again, repair the machines that coughed not having been used for months, fix infiltration problems, repaint the walls… A race against time! "
On D-Day, shiny furniture and smiling waiters, the terraces are taken by storm all over the city, the time of a coffee, a lunch or a very first Super Bock.
Composite painting, freeing itself from ages and personal histories to celebrate, all together, a new page of collective history.
There are the terraces that we know and those born after the first confinement, on the public highway, a measure taken by the government and subject to the authorization of the district town hall on which each establishment depends.
This is how we saw these wooden terraces flourish in Lisbon, installed in parking spaces.
Read also: Seven tascas to sit down in Lisbon
Confident restaurateurs, not hoteliers
On April 5, it was time for the big spring cleaning for D-Day. (Here, the terrace of the Portas Do Sol belvedere) PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA / AFP
In a small hidden street in the trendy district of Príncipe Real, the Boubou's restaurant already had a good number of regulars. But this new opportunity has reshuffled the cards:
“We obtained authorization to create one of these small terraces, a real opportunity to attract another passing clientele, different from our regular clientele. We have also diversified by developing the bar offer to complete the catering: new menu, new bartender ”.
And Alexis Bourrat to add
: “The clientele of regulars is there. We are now impatiently waiting for the month of May to open until late! ”
When asked if he is confident, he humbly replies that
“Even if I read the newspapers every day, that I am on the lookout for the slightest rumor, I refuse to be pessimistic! And then, even if the Covid-19 was a real upheaval, it saved us: to survive, we had to question ourselves. ”
If the future of restaurants, cafes and bars seems to be emerging, in particular because it can count on the presence of a local clientele, the hotel sector is still outdone.
Raul Martins, president of the AHP (Portuguese Hotel Association), clarified in an interview with Antena 1 and
Jornal dos Negocios
that, if 30,000 employees in the sector have been made redundant to date, the hotel activity in Portugal recorded an 80% drop in the first quarter compared to last year.
Today, it is proven that 10% of hotels will not reopen their doors after the pandemic.
Read also: How Malta wants to bring tourists back to its hotels
As for the forecasts for this summer, he considers them "fair", provided they can count on European and North American tourists, if the national company TAP maintains its flights with the United States and Canada. In this context, hoteliers are focusing their efforts on the living spaces at their disposal (restaurants, cafes, bars), putting their core business in the background, while waiting for better days, ...
