"The border situation is an embarrassment for the Government. There's no other word for it. We have to have an attitude of humility regarding what we do, and, at this moment, it is an embarrassment, and the only thing we could do was apologise," said Hugo Espírito Santo, in Macau, at the 50th congress of the Portuguese Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies (APAVT).

The official said that the causes exist, have been identified, and that solutions are being evaluated, praising the help that ANA - Aeroportos has given in the situation.

"We are currently closely monitoring this issue with the Government. We have five ministers directly involved, and we are looking at the data daily to see how long it takes to cross the border in Lisbon (...)," added the official.

Root of the problem

Hugo Espírito Santo recalled that "the root" of the problem "is clear" and has to do with "the lack of PSP (Public Security Police) officers," in addition to "a difficulty and instability from a technological point of view, especially at the gates," and, thirdly, "a greater slowness of the system."

Having identified the causes, says the governor, now it's a matter of trying to solve them.

"One of the things we have already decided, together with ANA – who has done a remarkable job with us to help us solve this – is to redesign the entire start and finish area. We will increase the number of gates by 30%, we will increase the number of boxes by 30% at the finish area, and we will increase the number of gates by 70%," he said.

The challenge, the government official acknowledges, is to resolve the situation by June, "before the summer," the peak tourist season.

The tourism sector, namely the Portuguese Tourism Confederation (CTP) and APAVT, have been requesting urgent solutions to this constraint, which is causing reputational damage to Portugal as a destination.

“It's a very serious problem, which is not in our hands," the chairman of the board of directors of ANA - Aeroportos de Portugal, José Luís Arnaut, had said earlier today.