Representatives of filmmakers from the United States are in Portugal this week to meet with Portuguese agents in the sector, the Lisbon-based Portuguese Film and Audiovisual Institute (ICA) revealed on Thursday.
This visit is to push the country as ideal for filming and is at the invitation of Tourism of Portugal and the Institute, following the creation of the Support Fund to Tourism and Cinema.
According to an ICA source, seven representatives of Hollywood studios and producers are on the trip but the route does not include the Algarve.
There are planned visits to Lisbon, Sintra, Óbidos, Tomar, Coimbra, Porto and the Douro region but the glorious sunny south, ideal for both weather and locations, has been sidelined.
The Fund to Support Tourism and Cinema has the noble aim of supporting initiatives that contribute to promote Portugal as a tourist destination all year round and offers significant tax breaks to production companies, many of which are untroubled by budgetary constraints.
The €50 million fund aims to encourage filming in Portugal. The process is to be run by Turismo de Portugal in conjunction with the ICA.
In June, when the fund was announced, the Secretary of State for Tourism, Ana Mendes Godinho, stated that, until now, "Portugal was completely off the map for international producers."
It seems also that the Algarve is completely off the map for Turismo de Portugal.
In a barely concealed slight against the Algarve, ICA chairman Luís Chaby Vaz (pictured below) commented, "It is of no interest to sell sun, golf and beaches. It is interesting to sell the characteristics of the sector and, from a heritage point of view, to present practical solutions to the problems that are raised."
Luís Chaby Vaz, for whom the Algarve is of no interest...
