Desidério Silva replaced as President of Algarve's tourist board

13 May 2018

Desidério Silva has failed in his bid to be reappointed as the Algarve region’s tourism president.

João Fernandes (pictured) now leads the Algarve Tourism Region (RTA) after five years of Silva’s stewardship.

Fernandes, from the Socialist Party, is the the vice-president of the RTA and put himself forward to occupy Silva's seat, successfully as it has turned out.

The General Assembly of the RTA has 32 seats for the Algarve Councils’ presidents, one government representative, various regional business organisations and unions.

The member for the Portuguese Casinos Association did not turn up for Friday’s vote in which Fernandes got 17 votes against Silva’s 11. There were three blank votes. The inauguration of the new president of the RTA will take place in August.

Fernandes’ appointment gives opportunity for improvement and change, most notably to the under-promoted 365 Algarve events programme which is meant to attract more overseas and Portuguese tourists to the region in the off-season.

365 Algarve was set up to “crown the region’s traditional offer with music, dance and theatre performances plus exhibitions, activities involving the local heritage, gastronomy and cinema.”

The second year of the programme started in October 2017 and runs to the end of May 2018. Complaints include late publicity, poor publicity, events designed for the existing local market rather than being designed to attract overseas and national tourists to the region.

365 Algarve is a partnership between the Secretary of State for Tourism and the Secretary of State for Culture, supported by Turismo de Portugal and run by the Algarve Tourism Region and the Algarve Tourism Association.

One of the contributing factors has been the inequality of funding when it comes to the Algarve’s share of the promotional budget. In 2011, the government received a ten year, €175 million grant, from EU funds to promote off-season tourism in Portugal yet Algarve 365 receives only €1.5 million-a-year to run 560 events in the current programme. With the region now representing well ver 40% of the nation's tourism income, the low spend from this specific EU grant remains unexplained.

In November 2017, the privately funded music and arts organisation, Cultugarve, commented that the RTA, “has missed the chance during the summer of informing tourists what’s going on in the region during the winter, including the 365 Algarve winter programme,” and that “There were no advertisements or flyers that could be handed out at the local tourist offices across the Algarve.”

The blame for the non-cooperation between these two complimentary organisations, the RTA and Cultugarve, according to the latter’s founder, was the lack of acknowledgement by Desidério Silva that the organisations could compliment each other in developing and promoting a internationally attractive programme of events that would start to fulfil the 365 Algarve remit.

Whether João Fernandes will engage this cost-free opportunity, remains to be seen but it has been clear for some time that the RTA needs to raise its game - it now has an opportunity to do so, ‘under new management.’