Victor Guerreiro, the president of the Algarve’s business group ACRAL, today called for an end to the tolls on the Via do Infante, saying that any financial impact will be reduced by the recent negotiation to reduce the cost of the public-private partnership used to fund the motorway’s construction and operation.
The renegotiation of the contract for the design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of the Via do Infante, which resulted in savings for the state of €85 million, "could lessen the financial impact of the suspension of tolls the benefit of which would extend to the whole regional economy," said Guerreiro, with rare insight.
Having finished rearranging the paperclips on his desk, the president of ACRAL said, "without tourists, tourism is an impossibility: if we want more tourism - and we do want more tourists because this implies revenue, employment and wealth - then we have to worry about what deters visitors.”
Victor Guerrero points out that the high number of tourists and the poor existing toll collection methods are causing "queues of Spanish visitors at Ayamonte, creating strong dissatisfaction, while many others for the same reason are deterred from coming to the Algarve at all.”
The end of tolls would be "more than offset by the increased mobility and satisfaction of tourists as well as reducing business costs and the consequent increase of the wealth produced."
No analysis and report of the cost of tolls to the regional economy has been commissioned by ACRAL.
To do nothing about the Via do Infante "is not a smart way to tackle the problem," he says, adding, "this could only be justified if they thought that we already have too many tourists, as apparently some sectors of society are thinking, especially in Lisbon."
To combat this and other bottlenecks in the Algarve economy, the association leader calls for "uniting the forces of the region and taking a common position."
The tolls system on the Via do Infante started in December 2012, established anti-toll protestors will be delighted to have Guerreiro fully on board despite his comments bringing nothing new to the debate.
