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Village tourism increases amid pandemic

Linhares da Beira (Portugal), 3 Oct (EFE), (Camera: Carlos García).- Rural tourism in uninhabited villages, where social distancing is imposed by the shortage of neighbors and not by the precautions due to the Covid, has become this year one of the star destinations of the Iberian Peninsula. The Portuguese "Aldeias Históricas", in the Central region of the country, had almost full occupation this summer. This is a network of twelve villages, some barely reaching a hundred inhabitants, which offer a plus in security that is increasingly appreciated by visitors to the big cities.FOOTAGE OF THE AREA AND SOUNDBITES BY PEDRO MACHADO, PRESIDENT OF THE PUBLIC ENTITY TOURISM CENTER, AND DALILA DIAS, MANAGER OF THE HISTORICAL VILLAGES OF PORTUGAL.TRANSLATIONS:Machado:1. "Rural tourism is synonymous of a perception of greater physical distance that guarantees greater security and today is proven a growing and consolidated revaluation of many of our establishments".2. "I guarantee that 2021 many Portuguese and Spanish will return to that experience they discovered in 2020 (village tourism) because of the pandemic. Because they stopped travelling to places that normally go to more distant places abroad and because they stopped going to the beaches that are more crowded".3. "Spain is our main foreign market, representing more than 30% of overnight stays (in the Central Portuguese region)".Dias:4. "When they opened the borders it seems that the Spanish were with the suitcase to go to Portugal. This was notorious and interesting and was feedback for our accommodation. That is, they had just arrived, the border opened at midnight, and that day Spaniards arrived. People perceive that here there is a capacity for distancing and what we ask is that tourists comply with the rules of the General Directorate of Health."