Madeira Island Reopens With Safety And Assurance – PLEASE READ

Tobi Hughes·
News Blog

I have been getting many messages and emails about the conditions for arriving in Madeira.

The Island will reopen with no mandatory quarantine from July 1st. This is the official statement below.

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Madeira and Porto Santo will reopen to tourism on July 1st, the date when the mandatory quarantine is eliminated.

The reopening will be carried out safely and aiming to recover the confidence both of travellers and locals.

Madeira Islands has had very few cases of Covid-19 and acted quickly to control the virus on the archipelago (Portugal has been widely praised for its rapid response). Until the present date, the islands of Madeira have registered ninety (90) positive cases of COVID-19, no community contamination, and no deaths.

Madeira was a pioneer in the whole Portugal, in developing a good practices document to deal with Covid-19, resulting from the involvement from the whole tourism sector, along with the launch of a certification process that will reassure consumer confidence and hence promote Madeira as a safe tourism location for all visitors.

The Regional Government of Madeira (GRM) will carry out a test for all travellers, upon arrival in Madeira islands. This measure ensures all visitors that not only the locals are virus-free, but all those who enter will be scanned, thus promoting a highly secure and reassuring environment.

The government will pay for all costs of the tests upon arrival to the Destination, to prevent any extra costs for travellers. However, these tests can be avoided if passengers present a PCR test with a negative result, carried out in the last 72 hours before landing time. The testing process is being prepared by the Regional Health Authority, with the collaboration of ANA – Airports of Portugal, and strives for the highest speed with least inconvenience for travellers. Further details will be communicated in due course.

During June, mandatory quarantine can be avoided if travellers present a PCR test with a negative result, carried out in the last 72 hours upon arrival with no restriction on circulation in the Madeira and Porto Santo.

The epidemiological evolution of COVID-19 will be taken into account in the reopening plan defined for Madeira Islands.

Travellers between Madeira and Porto Santo are currently free from any control by Health authorities.

The Regional Government of Madeira, through the Regional Secretariat for Tourism and Culture, and Madeira Promotion Bureau are working side by side with all stakeholders to relaunch the Destination. Our teams are always available to share information.

Eduardo Jesus – Regional Secretary

Regional Secretariat of Tourism and Culture

My summary of this.

So in short if you travel to the island in June you will need to have a PCR test within 72 hours of arriving, this way you will not do Mandatory Quarantine, but you will be monitored by your mobile phone for two weeks just to make sure you have no symptoms. If you come without a test you will be Quarantined for 14 days in one of the hotels being used (please note being Quarantined is not fun, you are locked in your room and you do not leave your room for 14 days, not even for exercise. No alcohol is allowed, you will be provided with 3 meals a day, if you have friends or relatives on the island they can bring you treats or anything you might need and leave it at the hotel reception)

From July 1st everyone will need a PCR test. If you bring this with you within the 72 hours of arrival, you are free to go about the island, please make sure you know all rules as masks are mandatory in places like Supermarkets, buses, shopping centres etc. But you will not be monitored and can just enjoy your stay.

If you do not bring a test with you, then you will be tested on arrival at Madeira with no charge. Here it gets a bit uncertain, If you test positive you will go straight to Quarantine in one of the hotels. and you will stay there I believe till you test negative. If the case is you are positive, then the flight you are on there will be a strong chance you have infected many on this also, bringing more problems for Madeira.

I personally think they should have one rule for all, and make everyone have a test from the country they are travelling from, Prices of tests have to come down, and I am sure we will see that very soon. This way we do not have a situation where visitors are testing positive when they arrive, possibly infecting others, and spending their time in Quarantine. It also is not said how long the test will take and if you have to wait at the airport for the results, or some other way. 

Maybe if you know how much tests are from countries you travel from you can put the prices below, but I am 100% sure we will see prices fall when tourism travel restarts and more and more tests are available.

I also believe there will be more demand for private rentals, houses and apartments, and smaller hotels.

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Tobi Hughes

32 Responses

  1. I agree with you.
    It is totally stupid to test people when they have arrived and infected many people on the plane.
    Everyone should be tested BEFORE they are allowed on the plane. Better even before they are allowed in the airport building.
    Richard Greaves.

    1. Air regulators only have imposed wearing mask on board, no compulsory temperature check, no compulsory test, no compulsory reduced seating capacity. Madeira Govt does not regulate International Air Transport but it does regulate health authority in the island. That is what is being done.

  2. Thank you again, Tobi – a whole load of clear information there. I also agree with your thinking.

  3. I don’t understand how ‘the test’ all of a sudden has become full proof and totally dependant for travel. Given the situation of the two brothers who were quarantined here for 2 weeks, tested negative when they left and still managed to infect people in the village of Camera do Lobos. They were told to self isolate when they got home. But now the same test is being branded as the way to keep the island Covid free? Did they change the test and make it more secure? So, you take the test before you come, go and meet people and pick up the virus before you actually travel…then what? Maybe the test should be done each end? But we are all relying on a test to allow us to go back to business with the belief that that is infallible… I watched the Easy Jet safety video yesterday and had to ask, how many people are prepared to travel from the point of entry at the airport right through to destination without removing their masks…..from the UK that is about around 7 hours of continual breathing through it….what about kids and making them keep it on? Really do people…will people have the confidence to travel along with the inconvenience and hoops to jump through, just for a break away?

  4. This will all fizzle out of the fullness of time it’s just not doable

  5. I think people should be tested before they leave there own country.

  6. Richard Greaves I totally agree with you. There is no point travelling to a safe destination if you are running the risk of catching the virus at your departure airport or even on the plane. Then of course your safe destination is safe no more ! Just ridiculous !

  7. Madeira cannot ask for a mandatory test at the departure airport hence it offers the possibility of making the test upon arrival. You can’t just make something compulsory in another country. Madeira cannot ask to someone have a denied boarding in UK in Germany because they don’t have a test so it is a bit silly saying that the it should be the “same rule for all”.

    If I were a tourist I have two options. Make the test on my own at my country and if negative have a stress free journey and “green card” in Madeira. Or wait to be tested at tge arrival and if were positive would need to quarantine in Madeira until cured. I now what I would choose.

    1. But why can’t Europe or the world make the same rule for all, and that is to have a test before departing from the country you are in.

      1. That is something that needs to be asked to European and World authorities…

  8. I agree with all the comments on here.

    Only an absolute MANIAC without the slightest care for human life would be looking to go on holiday at a time like this and possibly spread a deadly disease to an island that has nearly eradicated it!! Can’t these people just wait until this is over?? Just because you think you’re a nice person doesn’t mean you can’t pick it up easily and spread it, it just doesn’t work like that! These measures are about as watertight as a bucket with a giant hole in it.

    If a lot of tourists come here soon, people will be infected, proper outbreaks will happen (it is a MIRACLE this has not happened already) and local people will die. DEAD. Families will be standing meters apart over the newly dug grave for their loved one so you could faff around having an iced cream. Think I’m being overdramatic? This is REALITY now, People need to wake up.

      1. Create your own youtube channel Toby. If you’ve got the time now use it to go round the island making videos that can in time be monetised. Posting links on here each time you have a new one up will gain you instant viewership which will in turn move you right up youtube’s algorithm and will gain you more views from people who aren’t aware of your blog. Linking to your blog on the videos will in turn gain more views for your blog and increase your potential advertising revenue from it, in addition to the stream of income that will come from the videos. And of course this will gain you more customers for your tours when things do eventually go back to near normal.

        Near normal wont be for a long time though realistically, there will only be a dribble of tourists this year compared to what we had before. Adapt and survive!

        The majority of the Madeirans I speak to want quarantine enforced and tourists kept out until it actually IS safe. I’m sorry that things have changed but nobody has the right to put people’s lives at risk just so they can keep their job.

  9. What will happen to the other passengers on a flight over if one or more gets a positive result from a test at the airport? Doesnt that negate the test results of those passengers who had the neg result 72 hours earlier? If a passenger has travelled to Madeira without first testing negative, and is in fact positive, he/she may well have contaminated other passengers, in the airport before getting on the flight, at the gate queue, or while onboard. Surely in such a scenario, the rest of the flight should follow him/her into quarantine, or be called back for a further test? The current policy if applied is, unfortunately, flawed…despite its very good intentions. Likewise any air passenger making their way to their holiday destination, even with a 72 hour neg test result, cannot ensure they have not been contaminated enroute. I cannot help predicting that this policy may well change once the second wave starts to hit.

    1. EASA has developed its own plan to mitigate infections inside airports and on-board planes. Madeira has developed its own plan to mitigate infections occurring in the island. One should not expect Madeira to develop a plan to mitigate infections inside airplanes, that is under international aviation regulations.

      Madeira´s plan prevents someone currently positive getting in the island, it does not prevent someone who will only show positive 5 days later of getting in the island. That is only possible closing down all the gates.

  10. In Canada the test for covid-19 is free but it usually takes more than 72 hours to get the results. So it would be hard to meet the requirement of having a test in the last 72 hours. If they allow the result to be in the last 72 hours it would work here.

  12. Well well that test 72 hours before you enter Madeira lefts 3 days time to get the disease… both ways before going to airport and at the destinatoin aurport are no good… and test are not good… people who have been tested to be virus free have spread the corona all over. This will be very very difficult thing to solve. We can not close the world for 2 years but we cant spread the disease all over either.

  13. The majority of people who get covid 19 do not have a death sentence, most people do not even know they have it. This affects largely older people with pre existing conditions or those who are fat!

    There won’t be a vaccine ever let’s get real, there isn’t one for the common cold and the current flu vaccine is only 30% effective.

    The death rate world wide is still comparable to normal flu and if you compare to deaths of HIV worldwide a tiny fraction …770,000 2020 forecast worldwide and no shut down.

    The poverty that will result from this shut down will cause more deaths and hardship than the virus ever has

    Madeira needs tourism to survive and has no option to open and open quick.. airlines will stop expensive routes especially those with unworkable and overly restrictive rules and regulations, masks are not compulsory in the UK anywhere for example.

    There is no immunity at all in the islands so there is 100% risk of infection amongst the population and a greater risk for travellers therefore.

    Tests on arrival are not risk free..you cannot get a test in the UK unless your ill and I understand this is the case in Germany and other EU countries.

    The demographics of tourism to the islands is the older end who won’t get insurance and won’t take the risk =lower tourism for many years to come.

    Cruise companies avoiding calling at Madeira for Normal routes already advertised for next year no funchal call.

    There’s a huge recession coming and holidays will become luxuries.

    Can the local / retired population support the island and the life style not have enjoyed , NO!!

    In short Madeira is in huge trouble, it’s not too soon at all to accept tourist for normal working people who don’t have the luxury of guaranteed pensions it’s essential to their survival, wanting to close the island for a couple of years is just plain ridiculous and selfish. Get real!

    1. Well said Ben finally someone who speaks the truth. The government shut the island down quick and OK it was good and we have hardly any cases and no deaths, but they don’t have a single plan for what to do now. Restaurants, bars etc are empty people don’t have the money. This will be much worse than any e can imagine, and Madeira will not be the same, I see proof of this everyday.

  14. In the UK still very tricky two get a PCR test. It continues not to be widely available to the general public through NHS. There are several private laboratories that can taste you for a price between £200 and £400. Getting the result from those laboratories takes between 5 and 10 business days. I don’t see how for the British public testing and getting the results 72 hours before a flight is possible.

  15. Any economy that is highly dependent on tourism needs to be planning to survive on a reduced level of visitors, at least in the medium term.
    If they don’t or can’t do this then there will indeed be a major problem.
    The two extremes are to stay shut down indefinitely, or to open up completely straight away.
    I suspect the way forward at the moment lies somewhere in between.
    Like every country, Madeira need to find a viable way to live and work in a ‘new normal’, recognising the effect of the policies of other countries.

  16. Until there is a vaccine, it’s sadly a no go to fly anywhere. If you could see the level of stupidity in the UK or literally 1 mile from where we live, which is a beauty spot, a 2nd spike is but days away.
    As said already you just need one person on a flight and not just the passengers but staff then it’s game over.

  17. I know yhou cannot have a test in the Netherlands unless you are already ill, and not even then if your symptoms are mild. So Madeira does whatever it can to get the economy started up, which is an absolute necessity. There has been talk of a mandatory temperature check before getting on an airplane but whether or not this will be done I have not heard. Tests are getting more accurate, but it will be unlikely they get it ‘waterproof’ anytime soon. We will just have to wait and see, only time will tell if the measures are sufficient or not. Speculating is useless and often borders on scaremongering.

  18. What Ben says is true of probably all holiday locations where the economy depends heavily on tourism.

  19. *note to Tobi

    Hi Tobi, clicking on “reply” doesn’t seem to be working as normal. It just posts comments at the end. I have tried a couple of browsers.

  20. Replies to comments not posting at the original comment and not indenting. ??

  21. I note that once again we have all the world experts on your blog Tobi.

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