A new strategic plan for the Alentejo coast is being prepared by the Regional Tourism Authority, in partnership with local councils, to promote the 150 kilometres of coastline.
"We have an Atlantic coast that has huge potential from the tourism point of view and this needs to be thought out and structured, which has never happened before," according to the president of the Regional Tourism body for the Alentejo, António Ceia da Silva who said that a structure needs to be put in place to enable the promotion of a ‘sun and sea’ strategy.
The Strategic Operational Plan, which will be developed in partnership with the Comunidade Intermunicipal do Alentejo Litoral, kicked off in Monday in Alcacer do Sal with working sessions with the councils, other public institutions, business people and private developers.
António da Silva stressed that this work needs to be done with the participation of the inter-municipal community and organisations such as the Portuguese Environment Agency, the Institute of Nature Conservation, the port authorities and the business community.
"There is a lot of work to do, including workshops and other initiatives,” and the preparation of the operational plan by a technical, academic and scientific team will take about a year, said da Silva.
The wonder is that this sort of plan has not been up and running for years and it begs the question of what these venerable bodies have been doing to promote tourism in their area since that start of the crisis in 2008.
