452 COMPETITION LAW IN TOURISM facilities in sectors such as leisure, culture, sport and others. Retail trade and non-essential services in establishments open to the public were suspended. Following the end of the state of emergency and the adoption of the state of public calamity (less stringent phase)100, the restrictions were very gradually lifted and deconfinement measures were adopted in a non-homogenous way across Portugal and the respective ORs. For instance, in August 2020 there were no specific national restrictions on travelling to the Portuguese territory and on mobility within the Portuguese territory. Notwithstanding, in order to travel to the Azores and Madeira Islands, passengers had to present a negative COVID-19 test carried out within 72 hours before boarding. Consequently, given the outermost nature of their territories and the shortcomings regarding travelling, as well as the importance of tourism for the economy, the governments of Azores and Madeira have decided to incentivise travelling to their respective territories by supporting the financial costs of the mandatory COVID-19 tests101. Also, deconfinement measures implied a necessary adaptation of companies to the new context and required heavier sanitation measures for certain companies, as well as the mandatory use of face masks by employees. The aggravation of sanitary measures from October 2020 onwards and the renewed declarations of state of emergency in the first months of 2021 have had severe impact on the country’s economy and aggravated the situation of the tourism industry. As indicated above, in order to tackle the impact of the confinement measures on the economy, the Portuguese government adopted (among others) lay-off measures, tax incentives, along with an exceptional regime for late rent payment in residential and non-residential lease agreements, as well as other type of agreements involving the occupancy of real estate properties, namely for commercial purposes. Similarly to what is the approach adopted in other Member States and accepted by the European Commission, in Portugal there has been a reallocation of structural and investment funds for the recovery of the economy and the adaptation to the sanitary measures to combat COVID-19, hereunder in F.2. 100 See Resolution of the Council of Ministers no. 33-A/2020, of 30 April 2020, which has been extended four times and ceased at the end of July. 101 For more information, please see the respective websites of the regional governments.
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