Scarborough woman who lives in Portugal welcomes travel allowance

A Scarborough woman who now lives in Portugal is encouraging people to visit the country.

Author: Karen LiuPublished 17th May 2021

A Scarborough woman who now lives in Portugal is encouraging people to visit the country.

It is as international travel can resume from today in England, Wales and Scotland.

The Government's included Portugal in its 'green list', which means there is no need to quarantine on return.

Travellers will need a negative Covid test before departure though.

Margaret Inglesant said:

"We have got a villa here. We moved here in the middle of the pandemic and it wasn't a great time to move, but we had to do it, we'd already invested here and we needed to make sure that the villa was being maintained before winter set in. It's really important that we let start letting tourists back in now. The vaccine programme has just really upped this week.

"Covid is fairly low in Portugal so it's quite a safe place to come to and the UK has done tremendously well with the vaccines. I think it's a really good match to let British people into the country safely so that restaurants and bars can really start opening again as well as hotels and holiday parks.

"The business people here have not been getting anywhere near the help that people in the UK have been getting. The furlough scheme is nothing like it is in the UK and there's so much poverty here. People who work on a seasonal basis in hotels, bars and restaurants are not getting the work at the moment so we definitely need to be letting the tourists in.

"You will also have to wear masks in the streets. It was announced a few days ago that masks are still compulsory when you're on the beach. You are having to wear your mask much more than you are in the UK. Come to this beautiful place and enjoy it but be safe when you're here and understand that you do get fined if you don't follow the rules. The police are out in full force here."

You can see the progress of work in Margaret's villa and keep up-to-date here: www.facebook.com/VillaAzulAlvisquer

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