Ana Mendes Godinho, the new Secretary of State for Tourism, is to change the Alojamento Local rules as she realises that many are "hard to understand."
At a speech made at a meeting with the Association of Portugal Hospitality (AHP), Godinho said also that she is almost ready with a financial support package to address the specific needs of tourism businesses.
The first part of the plan is a government package for financing and capitalisation of tourism businesses. Details will be released in February.
The second part is to carried out ‘adjustments’ to the current Alojamanto Local laws which have been ignored by the vast majority of those property owners who should have registered and have been slammed variously as bureaucratic, uninspiring, overly-complicated, obtuse, multi-agency, expensive to comply with, divisive, off-putting and hence has largely been ingnored by property owners who realise the claims of intense policing are mythical.
Godinho said that the Alojamento Local property letting scheme "clearly needs tweaking," but stressed that "everything will be done smoothly" with the involvement of the Association of Portugal Hospitality and the Local Lodging Association, whose representatives she has met and soon realised that changes needed to be made.
"There are rules that are difficult to understand, people can’t work out what they mean” and Godinho aims to make the necessary changes as smoothly as possible “but not right away.”
The State Secretary of Tourism mentioned also that the "Alojamento Local private rental market exists, it will not go away," and praised its ability to bring rapid regeneration to some cities.
Godinho also said that "the key is to show the strong regulatory role in this matter. The desire is to combat the informal economy” and she already has established contacts with the regulatory police ASAE with a view to some “intense action to monitor the informal economy so that the rules will be respected by all those involved.”
In terms of promotion, Godinho said the ultimate goal "clearly is to continue along the path that has been developed with ‘online’ promotion, but not to the exclusion of more traditional promotional work in traditional markets.
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Comments
Roll on 25 years with almost zero improvement and have a Portuguese Tourism Minister telling Europe that the Portuguese Bed & Breakfast and short term house rental regulations 'needs some tweaking' - when tens of thousands of Portuguese property owners have only ever ignored the licensing procedures is not encouraging to Brexiters. Then add in many thousands more EU foreigners who would be delighted to take part in small tourism - if allowed.
As so many ask themselves, if its taken 30 years to get Portugal this far - will another 30 years be enough to get any further? Or, should we be allowing evolution to develop Portugal - so aim for outcomes suitable for the European Union in 300 years time?