420 COMPETITION LAW IN TOURISM and the European Parliament on historical decisions such as the activation of the general escape clause of the Stability and Growth Pact in March 2020 and the current perspective of deactivation of the same only in 2023 (at the earliest?). Notwithstanding, the different breadths of Member States budgets and strategic approaches towards the COVID 19 crisis have inevitably encompassed accrued distortions to competition within the Single Market and it remains to be seen to what extent the recovery plan and budget for 2021-2027 aiming at rebuilding the European Union after the COVID-19 pandemic (based on convergence, resilience and transformation) will effectively attenuate this trend. As regards specifically the tourism sector and highlighting the most recent development, under the Portuguese Presidency of the Council, last 27 May 2021 the Council drew its Conclusions concerning “Tourism for Europe in the next decade: Sustainable, Resilient, Digital, Global and Social”. The same provide for ambitious calls for action after recognizing that “due to the COVID19 crisis, the tourism ecosystem has the highest investment needs among the 14 industrial ecosystems defined by the European Commission and the lowest confidence indicator”. Time will tell whether the envisaged coordination of efforts and consistency of strategies betweenMember States and the Commission will achieve the proposed targets. At the same time, at the EU level the calls for enhanced cooperation and coordination of efforts include also the health and safety in the short term and result in initiatives such as the creation of the EU Digital COVID Certificate to facilitate safe free movement of citizens in the EU during the COVID-19 pandemic. But one cannot exclude that even if they are complied with, distortions of competition from the perspective of the tourism sector are surmounted, as it relies on the speed of vaccination in each Member State. Focusing on the Portuguese reality for the purposes of understanding the interplay between competition and tourism, we first refer to the Portuguese Competition Authority (PCA). We thus mention its more recent decisional practice in the tourism sector lato sensu as regards antitrust and mergers and the recent recommendations to public authorities which concern tourism lato sensu and reflect its advocacy of competition. Given that the increase of state intervention in the economy is susceptible of resulting in government induced distortions of competition which should be timely identified and properly addressed, the PCA’s expression of availability to interact with public authorities to achieve this goal is welcomed. Only time will tell to what extent the latter’s receptiveness will in the end achieve the proposed aim.
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