Lisbon restaurant owners saw the return of tourists “scared” by World Youth Day (WYD) 2023 after a week of billing cuts, PRO-VAR president Daniel Serra told Lusa.
“At the end of World Youth Day (WYD), restaurant businessmen could see the return of tourists who had been ‘scared away’ by the event, after a week of ‘billing drops’,” said the president of PRO.VAR – Promoting and Innovating Restauração Nacional, in a written response to Lusa, about the impact on the sector of the religious event, which took place in the first week of August in Lisbon and Loures.
Daniel Serra stressed that the statements made by the government and mayors about the event “raised high expectations among the public and many business people”, but it soon became clear that WYD, coinciding with the peak tourism season, “would not have the economic impact which ” expected in the restoration, with the cancellation of reservations as the first warning signs.
“The high expectations ‘surprised’ the tourists and even the residents, who eventually moved away from the areas where more young people were expected,” said the president of the association.
The age of the majority of pilgrims and the low value of the daily ‘kit’ meal (seven euros) even led some businessmen to close their doors that week, predicting that the majority of pilgrims would prefer giving to ‘fast food’ from international chains to put food on the plate.
“Those that stayed open recorded ‘billing drops’, Daniel Serra underlined, explaining that there were losses in billing in the mid-range segment as WYD ‘drived out’ regulars and also ‘a lot of tourists, who normally make a frequency ‘. in expensive restaurants”.
Nevertheless, the association believes that the event was beneficial for the promotion of the country: “We can say that the restoration lost ‘today’ to win tomorrow”, Daniel Serra considered.
WYD, the largest event of the Catholic Church, took place this year from August 1 to 6 in Lisbon.
Source: DN
