“The environment and environmental concerns are allies that make national tourism more attractive, competitive and profitable,” according to the Secretary of State for the Environment Paulo Lemos at a meeting of business owners and tourism representatives in the Algarve.
"This green economic aspect is the future of our country," said Lemos at the "Commitment to Green Growth and Tourism" conference, reminding us that the country becomes more competitive and more independent when using its own resources.
During the conference, the document "Commitment to Green Growth" was launched 'for public consultation' as part of the ministry’s series of launch roadshows before putting the plan into play in Q1. 2015.
Paulo Lemos is of course famous in the Algarve for his action in November 2013 when he signed as 'favourable with conditions' the Environmental Impact Assessment for the Praia Grande development near the Salgados lagoon area to enable indigent property company Finalgarve to start building a 360 hectare resort right next to the extensive Herdade dos Salgados golf course and hotel development.
Lemos rubber stamped the deeply flawed and controversial report, paid for and submitted by Finalgarve, and astounded local environmental organisations and other concerned parties when it turned out that the impact assessment was based on just 1/5th of the area to be affected, the first zone to be built on, rather than the whole project.
So now Lemos is back in the Algarve wearing his greenest political jacket and waxing on about the environment and tourism being allies to boost the Portuguese economy - he has a point but no track record in this regard, indeed the 'environment' seems to be something that should be offered to the business community as long as there is are some solar panels in the plan.
Adolfo Mesquita Nunes, the Secretary of State for Tourism said that according to ‘official data’ European tourists have been showing a growing interest in the value of sustainability that has made Portuguese businessmen adapt tourism facilities to the new trend.
"There is no harm in referring to environmental sustainability as having an economic value to be exploited by business owners and this has happened," said Nunes, adding that there is a new generation of projects that already focus on environmental sustainability as an asset.
Nunes will not have lingered on the reasons behind the Praia Grande development and the destruction of 360 hectares of farmland that will be turned into tourist accommodation, three hotels, and a golf course within view of the existing Herdade dos Salgados golf and leisure development.
Nor would there have been much talk about the destruction of woodlands and countryside to make way for the Quinta da Ombria development in the hlls near Querença, which no doubt will be as green as they come but represents another major development in an area that was meant to be protected, until someone with enough money comes along to provide lots of low grade hotel worker jobs as if this will ever compensate the region for the loss for ever of its green areas.
http://www.algarvedailynews.com/news/3947-us-hotel-group-takes-over-at-quinta-da-ombria-in-loule
One of the Commitment to Green Growth delegates appealed to the government to issue guidelines for projects that accord with its new green economic development strategy which the government assures us addresses water, waste, agriculture and forestry, energy, transport and industry, among other macro topics.
The government’s committment to encourage the building of more tourism facilities for ‘green customers’ includes a strategic plan that looks at financing, international promotion, taxation, innovation, information and public procurement and establishes goals to be achieved between 2020 and 2030.
What is does not look at is the threats from oil and gas exploration off the Algarve and Alentejo’s coasts, the empty or unfinished tourism accommodation that already exists, the region’s overworked or ancient transport infrastructure and the fact that the Algarve already has pretty much everything that people want, whether sea and sand holidaymakers or greener tourists looking for walking routes, bicycling routes, horse rising, bird watching and surfing holidays, all it needs is to be made to work properly and promoted to the right target markets.
