The Secretary of State for Tourism, Ana Mendes Godinho, says it is not just Portugal that offers tax benefits to foreigners.
Asked in Paris about comments by Finance Minister, Mário Centeno, who is working towards scrapping tax benefits for incoming foreigners, Ana Mendes Godinho commented, "My one and only message is: there are many countries that have regime identical to that of Portugal. Portugal is not a unique case."
Godinho mentioned the Netherlands, Ireland, Spain and Luxembourg as low tax destinations for foreigners to move to and stressed that "Portugal is a good destination to visit, invest, live and work."
Faced with an influx of French retirees and artists who have settled in Portugal - the most recent case being the singer Florent Pagny who last week said that he decided to settle in Portugal "for tax reasons," Ana Mendes Godinho stated that "it is good that all those people who value Portugal, go to Portugal."
"We want good investors, we want people who create value, we want people who like to live in Portugal for the best reasons. We have several spectacular stars who are choosing to live in Portugal, like Madonna," said Godinho, noting that in a report on the French TV channel TF1 on the reasons that led the American signer to come to Portugal, "not once did she refer to fiscal reasons."
For the Secretary of State, "there are many factors that lead people to choose to live in Portugal these days," such as "the capacity of the Portuguese to welcome them," and Portugal becoming "increasingly a multicultural, tolerant and inclusive country."
On the possibility of Portugal being invaded by tourists, Ana Mendes Godinho - who is against ‘mass tourism’ – said that a €10 million programme to support sustainable tourism projects was announced last week.
Godinho added that one can not forget "what the urban centres of Lisbon and Oporto were like ten years ago. They were completely abandoned, we had empty buildings, we had no people on the street, we had insecurity on the street and it is always good to remember this very positive way our cities have evolved due to the dynamism created by tourism, including renovation and the creation of businesses."
As for promoting Portuguese tourism to a French audience, this is to continue, in particular with "some new routes to the Açores", the promotion of Portugal as a destination for corporate events, for business tourism and the promotion of the Algarve in the winter.
There has been an 11% growth of French tourist revenues in Portugal with 616 flights per week to Portugal from 21 airports in France, according to Godinho.
"What we feel, this year, is that the French are discovering regions in Portugal which they were not going to," continued the Secretary of State, pointing out that there was a growth of 14% of French tourists in the Algarve, 40% in the Açores and also many discovering the central region.