Growth in the number of guests (+ 7.2%), total revenue (+ 7.2%), and in overnight stays (+ 2.5%) throughout 2019 made it a year of "historic results" for tourism in the Algarve, with the region continuing to represent the largest share of overnight stays at the national level (30% of the total).
Portugal’s economy minister, Pedro Siza Vieira, doesn’t want his country to slow down, in the wake of an impressive comeback from the Troika international bailout, with six straight years of growth, he’s calling for 13 billion euros in spending to keep the growth rolling.
A network of criminals, made up of five men between the ages of 18 and 34, responsible for a series of thefts and robberies in the districts of Faro, Setúbal, Lisbon, Santarém and Bragança, were dismantled this Tuesday, February 18th. The arrests occured, said a GNR spokesperson, "following an investigation that has been going on for about six months".
In a move to maintain current clinical practice, the government is looking into offering British tourists subsidised post-Brexit healthcare. This is in an effort to retain their custom in the Algarve, Lisbon and beyond.
Portugal is one of the countries in Europe most threatened by wildfires, and as the climate changes, the government has decided that it wants to be prepared. Part of that motivation comes in the wake of the summer of 2017, one of the worst fire seasons in the country's living memory. A record area of over 500 thousand hectares burned; hundreds of homes were lost; and over a hundred people died.
Portuguese and Spanish church leaders have criticized proposals to legalize euthanasia in their traditionally Catholic countries, and urged broad discussions of such proposals before they are considered by legislators. “It’s painful this law began its process when we were celebrating the World Day of the Sick,” Auxiliary Bishop Luis Arguello of Valladolid, secretary general of the Spanish bishops’ conference, told a forum Feb. 11.
President Marcelo and the Prime Minister Antonio Costa have added their voices to a national outcry today over racist abuse aimed at black FC Porto player Moussa Marega, who walked off the field after hearing monkey chants from the crowd.
Rui Pinto, a 31-year-old Portuguese national, is set to stand trial on 93 charges related to hacking, computer sabotage, illegitimate access, violation of correspondence, and attempted extortion. Prosecutors accuse him of accessing emails and leaking private details that led to financial fair play investigation into Manchester City FC’s finances.
