Down by the almost empty beach in Vilamoura in Portugal’s southern Algarve region, Sean and Roxana Martin are pleased as punch to be on holiday with their 15-month-old son Antonio — although originally they planned to be elsewhere

Down by the almost empty beach in Vilamoura in Portugal’s southern Algarve region, Sean and Roxana Martin are pleased as punch to be on holiday with their 15-month-old son Antonio — although originally they planned to be elsewhere.

‘First, we tried to go to Sicily,’ says Sean, 38, a property developer from .‘That was last year. Then we had our honeymoon in cancelled. Then we had to cancel going to .’

He shakes his head in frustration. ‘So as soon as Portugal went on the green list, I called my friend — he’s a travel agent — and we booked to go.’ 

The couple paid £150 each for PCR tests, required 72 hours prior to travel to Portugal, at a clinic near London’s Leicester Square and flew on EasyJet to Faro at 9am from Gatwick on Monday — the earliest flight they could find.

At the Tivoli Marina Hotel in Vilamoura, swallows may flit above the palm trees by the pool, but the British tourists arriving this week are seen by locals as the ‘swallows’ that may be the harbinger of a revival of the country’s devastated tourist industry.

Usually, tourism accounts for 15 per cent of Portugal’s economy, impolsarl (https://www.facebook.com/przedstawicieltransportuwefrancji/photos/a.249557728996580/961449624474050/?type=3) with more than half of British travellers visiting the Algarve for its fine sand beaches, pretty villages and renowned golf courses.

‘Searches on tour operator websites have increased by 2,000 per cent since the green list was announced,’ says Hugo Nascimento of Visit Algarve.‘The last year has been so hard but we hope to turn it all around now.’

They might well do so. Mind you, the first British tourists venturing into Portugal this week seem both stunned by the temperatures (touching 30c (86f) most days), as well as the peace and quiet on the usually busy beaches (less than 10 per cent of regular numbers right now).And there’s another big selling point: low prices.

Not just from travel to and from the country but the cost of living on arrival — confirmed this week when the Post Office Holiday Money Report 2021 revealed that the Algarve was the third cheapest place to visit for holidaying Britons, with a three-course meal with wine for two costing an average £30.49.

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