Statement

Lisbon, March 5,2020 – AIP Foundation, as organizer of BTL – Lisbon Travel Market hereby informs all the exhibitors, partners and visitors of the following:

• Complying with all the recommendations of Health Department of the Portuguese government, World Health Organization and in cooperation with UFI (Global Association of the Exhibition Industry) and EMECA (European Major Exhibition Centres Association), AIP Foundation has implemented a Contingency Plan, regarding the COVID19 situation, that ensues all the measures and procedures advised by these entities.
• Recognizing the position of the public entities of the tourism sector, which was made public yesterday at the end of the day, whereby “aware of the latest recommendations of Health Department of the Portuguese government regarding the organization of large events and taking into account all the constraints, we consider that the necessary condition are not met in order to maintain our participation at BTL 2020 from 11th to 15th of March whether by means of an individual stand , whether through different initially scheduled events “;
• Considering that TP – Turismo de Portugal, TAP and BTL jointly organize the promotion of the Hosted Buyers Program, which annually brings more than 300 international buyers to discover and develop sales of the tourist destination that is Portugal, and also that, yesterday, at the end of the day, BTL was notified by Turismo de Portugal and TAP of their intentions to postpone the Hosted Buyers Program of BTL 2020, therefore, thus canceling the arrival of international buyers at the event.

AIP Foundation, in conjunction with the Portuguese Government (Ministry of Economy) and the most relevant Entities of the Tourism Sector concluded that, faced with this context, the conditions to ensure the realization of BTL 2020 during the originally designated dates, are no longer met. Therefore, with the aim to fulfill the expectations and needs regarding promoting the tourism sector, it was decided by [AIP Foundation] to postpone BTL 2020 to the 27th to the 31st of May.

Hereby aware of the impact of this decision, we cannot but acknowledge and express our thanks for all the support manifested by our clients and partners throughout the years that have made BTL the largest and the finest tourism event in Portugal and are confident that, all together, we will be able to overcome these circumstances and organize, in the now announced new dates, an even more decisive BTL in ensuring the promotion and realization of business in the tourism industry.