An update about COVID-19 (Corona virus)

As you may already be aware, the corona virus has been sweeping through a vast number of countries and, unfortunately, Portugal is not exempt from this. As of 3rd March, two confirmed patients have been admitted in two hospitals from Porto and this number will likely rise in the coming weeks (as has been globally).

Although at this stage it is quite simply impossible to predict the outcome of this epidemic, we are confident that things will be calmer in June with the arrival of Spring / Summer (and warmer temperatures).

In any case, we need to prepare for every eventuality which is why we decided to update our Terms of Service and refund policy.

Long story short: in the unlikely situation that we’d need to cancel the conference due to health/integrity risks we will grant everyone a full refund of their tickets. Additional costs the participants might have (i.e. but not limited to flights and/or hotel bookings) lie outside the realm of our responsability, which is why we recommend everyone to get travel insurance.

Furthermore, the cannot rule out the possibility that some mentors may be forced to cancel their trips. In such cases, we may have to replace said mentors with others in order to comply with 6 distinct workshops per day (as was originally planned).

Current ticketholders will be informed via email about our updated terms shortly. In case they don’t agree with the updated terms and conditions they will have 2 weeks (thus, up to March 17th, the latest) to cancel their ticket without any costs at all.

We’d also like to remind everyone that we are a non-profit organization that has survived thus far thanks to the unconditional support of our community. Organizing an event like SwiftAveiro has a lot of risks, which is why we are preparing for the absolute worst case scenario.

Regardless of what happens, we will still be around.

Thank you for understanding.

the SwiftAveiro team