The latest Summer Perspectives survey into the holiday plans of Portuguese families shows the delightful result that 84% are to stay and holiday within the country, and 44% are intent on heading to the Algarve.
August is the ideal month for the majority (54%) of Portuguese and 56% will take at least a ten day break in the sun.
The Portuguese are the most unhappy and pessimistic in Europe when it comes to the economic situation, according to a survey released today by the European Commission.
In Portugal, 52% of citizens surveyed fear that the impact of the crisis on employment will worsen.
The former BES chief executive Ricardo Salgado has been released on €3 million bail and is not allowed to leave the country while charges of fraud, breach of trust, forgery and money laundering are investigated further.
Salgado’s early morning arrest today was followed by a hearing in the Central Court of Criminal Investigation in front of judge Carlos Alexandre which lasted long into the afternoon.
Having removed support for the Portugal Open tennis competition, Turismo de Portugal has removed its €1 million financial support for the Rally of Portugal.
Turismo de Portugal, led by John Cotrim de Figueiredo, justified the end of its support for the Rally of Portugal as being due to a change of strategy in tourism promotion.
Ricardo Salgado first was forced out of one of the top jobs in Portuguese banking as chief executive of Banco Espirito Santo amid family disquiet over his behaviour and the direction of his moral compass.
That was in June; now Salgado has suffered the embarrassment of being arrested as part of the long-running Monte Branco money laundering and tax evasion investigation - he was whisked away from his Cascais home in a police car at 08.30 this morning.
A man posing as a tourist from the UK has been using a pension in Lisbon as a base and travelling to the Algarve on numerous occasions to break into hotel rooms in the Algarve.
Three hotels in Albufeira were targeted by the 36-year old crook who has previously been up to the same tricks in Ibiza and Malaga in Spain.
The Governor of the Bank of England has been giving a lot of hints about a rise in interest rates, but he has not set a date or a level.
Mark Carney has said increases in the Bank Rate, once they begin, will be at a more “gradual and limited” rate than in the past.
Consumers in Britain are shaking off their fear of spending and popping into the shops, stores and supermarkets.
Retail sales at the end of June were up by 1.6% from the first quarter of 2014, and 3.6% higher than last June. The quarterly leap was the greatest in any time over the last 10 years.
