The Hotel Association of Portugal (AHP) condemns the government for not accepting the vaccination certificate for citizens of the USA, Brazil and some from the UK.
According to the AHP, the government does not “accept vaccination certificates for US and Brazilian citizens, as well as vaccination certificates for Britons who have been vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine made in India, when several European countries, such as Spain, France, Switzerland and Germany are already doing so”.
“This is a purely political decision,” says Raul Martins, president of the AHP.
“The government is not only at odds with what is happening and forgetting a long-standing European Council directive – that is, that member states can follow the guidelines on accepting WHO-approved vaccines, even if they are not also approved by the EMA – as it is openly detrimental to companies tourism, and in this way harms the economic recovery of the country. He adds that what is happening is unfortunate.”
“The companies are doing the impossible: they are calling directly the operators, the airlines, the regular customers, and what they hear is that they don’t intend to go back to Portugal because even the vaccinated customers are subjected to checks on entry, frequent hotel checks, restaurants and other facilities when other destinations don’t have this. Kind of restrictions,” he said.
“Our prime minister talks a lot about openness and that it was Portugal that led the way for the creation of the digital certificate in the European Union, but in the end this initiative ended and our supposed opening there,” he adds.
«After all, we have the “Back Home” certificate! Unfortunately, we do not see our Prime Minister interested in the economy but only in the health measures that are carried out exclusively by the Portuguese health authorities. He concludes that it is necessary to see beyond our borders.
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