Adolfo Mesquita Nunes, Secretary of State for Tourism, has decided that Portugal does not have nearly enough hotels, even though significant numbers have to close each winter due to a lack of tourists.
New rules speeding up and facilitating the planning permission and building stages for new hotels have been drawn up and already have been published in the Official Gazette.
With the new legal regime the government aims to reduce the current bureaucracy surrounding the building of tourist facilities and to eliminate requirements that hitherto made the process a lengthy one.
The Secretary of State for Tourism commented that the law has four aims, "efficiency, simplification, a reduction of administrative costs, and a liberalisation of procedures."
Nunes did not dwell on any inconvenient aspects such as Environmental Impact Assessments for hotels and developments planned for sensitive natural areas as the government already has shown its indifference to this tourism sector.
Among the new features is the elimination of the Declaration of Interest for Tourism which has often delayed investment in the sector. Next on the list is the cancellation of the mandatory audit made by Turismo de Portugal to classify the completed building which will free up time for both the state and the constructor.
"We want the sector to adapt to the increasingly diverse demands of our tourists, not the needs of the state," said Nunes, adding that "we want the national tourism offer to be noted for its quality, diversity and adaptability."
The new legislation comes at a time when Portugal is striving to become a top tourist destination and the government is convinced that building lots of hotels will achieve this goal.
Much of the current effort by the diverse tourism boards in the country is being directed towards niche markets such as birdwatching, surfing, religious tourism, horesriding, nature tourism and bicycling, all areas that are catered for by the increasingly marginalised and quickly adaptable private accommodation sector which, if allowed to grow, may well employ more locals than the shiny new hotels that Nunes is intent on seeing built.
Perhaps next there could be a simplification and speeding up of the processes and interminable laws for those attempting to obtain permission to build their own house.
Comments
Particularly painful when your marketing ideas are then mysteriously duplicated by an existing tourism provider.
When can we expect rapid and 'no necessity to prove fault' compensation deducted from the structural funds at source - that allows us previous applicants back into the game ?