“There are markets that are recovering faster”, said Miguel Albuquerque, during his visit to a hotel in Funchal.

The leader of the executive, from the PSD/CDS-PP coalition, highlighted the arrival of tourists from Germany, pointing out that “operators, agents and hoteliers working in Funchal and Santa Cruz already have occupation levels in the order of 50 percent”

“We are starting a gradual, progressive recovery, safely and in conjunction with the operators, and since 1 July we have a positive outlook”, he underlined.

The head of the island executive mentioned that, with regard to the English market, it is necessary to “wait”.

“We have German and French tourists, but a pandemic outbreak has just emerged in France and the situation in England is not yet under control”, he argued.

Miguel Albuquerque stressed that it is necessary for people to understand that there is no “post-pandemic situation”, but a scenario in which the “pandemic is active in most countries in the world and in Europe.”

For the President of the Government of Madeira, “so far it has been going well”.

The official maintained that in the tourism sector the figures are not comparable with those recorded last year: “19,232 passengers disembarked, since 1 July, with 196 flights and 10,021 tests” carried out on arrival in Madeira.

“This means that almost 50 percent of the passengers who travel on all these flights already have undertaken tests”, he said.

The president of the executive stressed that the priority of the regional authorities has always been to ensure that Madeira and Porto Santo “either from the point of view of the market, operators, tours agents or customers, is a safe destination.”

Albuquerque pointed out that the opening of the two airports has been carried out “with all the security rules”, which represented “a very large investment by the Regional Government in terms of logistics, human resources and testing material.”

“So far this system has proven to be a success”, he said, saying that it is “recognised by all elements in the sector.”

In his opinion, the tourism sector will be much better “in a few months.”