Three months of inactivity in tourism generate a direct drop in Madeira's GDP of more than 6.6%”.
This percentage value translated about 110 million euros monthly, so we can gauge the objective impact of the pandemic in Madeira in relation to the tourism sector and, consequentemente, in the regional economy, said the secretary of Tourism and Culture, Eduardo Jesus.
Até Agosto, the autonomous region had 346 1000 and over 1,6 milhões de dormidas, in both cases homologous breaks of more than 65%, segundo o Instituto Nacional de Estatística.
Eduardo Jesus says that this year's numbers cannot be compared with year-on-year periods, because the pandemic has damaged all destinations like nobody has ever seen in the world, to advance that the hotel sector in Madeira is currently with about 70% of the open units and some, even with exceptions, with surprising occupations, acima dos 80 a 90%.
It should be noted that in Madeira, tourism represents 26% GDP and is responsible for more than 20 mil postos de trabalho. In each month that the activity was reduced to zero, the GDP of the Autonomous Region of Madeira contracted around 2,2%, what gives a reading of the dimension of this problem, with consequences for companies, for employees of those same organizations and in all the direct and indirect dynamics that the sector produces, said the regional secretary.
The evolution of the health situation is the key to tourism. The limitations imposed to try to stop the pandemic coupled with the fears dictated a deep braking of the activity. To recover it is necessary to trust that it is safe to travel, something that experts believe will only happen when there is a treatment.
No entanto, according to Eduardo Jesus, the prospects for the coming year are very encouraging. Although there is always a determining factor in the epidemiological evolution of the tourist-generating markets for Madeira, we are on the right path to grow.
Para tal, the region is doing, what the manager classifies as the biggest promotional campaign ever made by Madeira in the English market to enhance the window of opportunity for to be recognized as a safe region in a country that is not a continental region.
