Olhão council has launched a promotional video to encourage an already growing tourism market.
The aim of the promotion is to introduce the many attractions of the city and surrounding countryside that are becoming tourism hotspots alongside a booming housing market.
"It has been one of the main purposes of this council to promote tourism in Olhão; not mass tourism, but quality tourism, for those seeking a different and more genuine Algarve. I think with the release of this new video, we’ve hit the spot in showing the potential of Olhão and an open door to anyone who is thinking of visit us," said the council president, António Pina.
The five minute video uses drone technology to its best advantage in a journey through the area, starting at the waterfront, on to the beaches and north to the countryside.
Olhão is undergoing a property boom with the French outstripping traditional British, German and Scandinavian buyers of decrepit or derelict properties to renovate.
Instead of demolition, preferred by local builders in the 80s and 90s, many historic buildings have been preserved and given new vibrant lives having undergone sensitive redevelopment.
Tourism has been rising with the island beaches and seafood high on the list for visitors. The incoming French, many here as tax refugees and choosing the city mainly because it is cheap, so far have failed to open a boulangerie or patisserie but locals are expectant.
The story that is not told in the promotional video is the flow of raw sewage and other pollutants into the waters of the Ria Formosa and the constant threat from the council to redevelop the historic centre of the city by replacing the iconic calçada streets with the same machine cut block paving system that has been used already in some of the city's historic areas.
The promotional video shows the city at its best, the problem areas will be solved over time - the gap between reality and public relations already is narrowing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MENxx1MKWVE
Algarve, share the secret is at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uVDrM3xu9U&feature=youtu.be
Comments
'Competition' - I thought this was part of what the European Union was all about. Mind you, the blatant discrimination towards foreign-owned businesses in Portugal is such that most do not last long...