Guarda’s abandoned Hotel Turismo for years has stood empty, a reminder of the State’s ill-conceived idea to turn this once-proud hotel into a training centre for hospitality workers.
Finally, a decision: to include the building in the Revive list of unused State assets offered to the market on advantageous terms.
According to a note from the State Tourism Office today, a public tender already is being prepared which "will be launched during the first half of 2017" i.e by the end of June, with the objective of reopening the building as a hotel unit with an internship component for students from tourism schools.
Designed in 1936 by the architect Vasco Regaleira, the Hotel Turismo da Guarda, which for years has lain abandoned and unmaintained, is one of the most emblematic buildings in the city.
In 2010, the building was purchased from Guarda council by Turismo de Portugal, which paid €3.5 million, with the idea to renovate and transform the building into a hotel with an attached training school.
This project ended up in the bottom drawer and the place was abandoned in 2012, leaving time and the elements to take their toll.
In 2015 the Directorate General of the Treasury and Finance held a public auction for the sale of the empty building. Later in 2015, the property was put up for sale for just €1.7 million at a public auction for the lease with an option to purchase. One company was vaguely interested but soon gave up.
In May 2016, at the inauguration of the Iberian Tourism Fair, Prime Minister António Costa said there should be another auction and in October, Guarda council said it would buy the property if nobody was interested at auction. The auction was not held as there was zero interest during the pre-auction period.
Now "the Government has decided to make a new use of this property by integrating it into Revive, a joint program of the Ministries of Economy, Culture and Finance, to turn it into an asset capable of generating wealth and employment, and at the same time boosting the tourism facilities of the region," announced a positive press release today, issued by the Office of the Secretary of State for Tourism.
The same document goes on to say that "the solution found for this property includes a training element for tourism students from higher education institutions in the region. Thus, training in a real work context is promoted."
For as long as the government insists that the old hotel is used as a training school, investors will be deterred, as they have been to date.
The purchase and subsequent abandonment of the hotel by the tourist board is a matter of concern but at least today’s announcement may mark the start of a new role for this once-famous and bustling building in the central region of Beira Interior Norte.
