TOURISM LAW AND COMPETITION – A PORTUGUESE PERSPECTIVE 425 of third countries restrictive measures, such as the ones adopted by the authorities of the United Kingdom and which have a special impact notably on the Portuguese tourism industry. Thus, this contribution aims at raising questions and contributing to the debate concerning the challenging interplay between the different European Union and Member States’ policies when addressing the COVID-19 crisis (such as sanitary measures and border controls) while aiming at supporting the economy in general and granting state aid. The evolving approach adopted in the last year is nonetheless clarifying the boundaries for the short-term recovery and the more ambitious resilience, green and digital aims for the tourism industry, with the inherent consequences. B.1. The scope of “tourism” activities The concept of tourism has been subject to different definitions over time9. Although efforts have been undertaken to harmonise the concept, namely by the United Nations and Eurostat, it has yet to become consolidated. For instance, Eurostat distinguishes between domestic tourism (which refers to tourism by residents within their country), inbound tourism (which refers to tourism by non-residents within the country) and outbound tourism (which refers to tourism by residents outside of their country). Eurostat also distinguishes between national tourism (which encompasses domestic and outbound tourism), internal tourism (which includes domestic and inbound tourism) and international tourism (which includes inbound and outbound tourism). To the best of our knowledge there is no uniform definition of the tourism industry and the goods and services that may be considered part of it. For instance, should only hotels and restaurants be included? Or should we also consider tourism-related activities such as car rentals and charter airlines? Irrespective of our understanding of the adequate scope of such a concept and strictly for the present purposes, we refer to the concept of “tourism” in a broader sense. For instance, it is relevant to note that Portugal has been increasingly included in lists of countries for “medical tourism” in the context of the growing globalisation of health services. Moreover, this broader definition may include several tourism-related economic activities which do not fall under the “leisure or hospitality” categories, 9 “Tourism and the European Union – Recent trends and policy developments”, by the European Parliament, available at: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2015/568343/EPRS_IDA(2015)568343_ EN.pdf.
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