"In general, the hotels continue to keep scheduling the organisation of Christmas and New Year's Eve parties and dinners, being committed to understanding the rules and procedures they will have to comply with and present to their customers to ensure that these events are carried out in safety,” said an official APHORT source.

In response to Lusa, on whether hoteliers were registering cancellations in recent days because of the increase in cases with Covid-19 disease in Portugal, APHORT indicates that the "main cancellations" are more at the level of dinners and company events.

“The main cancellations are taking place at the level of dinners and company events, with businesses being more afraid to resume this type of event, opting for either cancellation and/or postponement”.

According to APHORT, so far, the existing cancellations have "been punctual", and the perception is that people are adapting and organising according to the established rules, namely the "presentation of a certificate and, possibly, of proof of a negative test result".

Several hotels in Porto had last weekend, booking rates for Christmas between 20 percent and 70 percent and for New Year's Eve between 50 percent and 75 percent, much "higher" occupancy than during the 2020 festivities.