Portugal is one of the European countries where consumers spend a high proportion of earnings on domestic electricity - equal to Germany.
Looking at the cost of electricity as a percentage of consumers’ standard purchasing power, Portugal and Germany were neck and neck at 0.29% per kilowatt hour (kWh), a figure that is expected to fall to about 0.20% in the case of Portugal for the current year, 2018.
Online booking website, HomeAway, commissioned the Lusófona University to study the impact on the economy of the Alojamento Local short-term tourist rental market – the result is a guesstimate of a positive €412 million injection.
This study is the first that analyses the profile of travellers using AL accommodation for their breaks, estimating that this growing class of tourists will generate ‘around’ €411.9 million, of which €133.6 million is spent on accommodation and the balance spent on food drink, gifts and travel during the stay.
If the UK crashes out of the European Union in a hard Brexit, Portugal plans to treat the British here in the same way the United Kingdom treats the Portuguese there.
Augusto Santos Silva said that the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union, at the end of March 2019, is one of the main challenges that the government faces next year regarding overseas Portuguese communities.
Manchester United fired José Mourinho today following the club's worst ever Premier League start, the final straw being a 3-1 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday.
A caretaker manager will be appointed and will work until the end of the current season to give the club a chance to find a replacement manager with the golden touch.
A demonstration involving around 50 locals was held on Sunday in Praia da Luz in protest at CTT’s announcement that the local Post office would be closed next year.
The Communist Party already has issued a communiqué, stating that it will take the case to parliament and blames the twin closures, in Praia da Luz and in Sagres, on the 2014 privatisation of CTT carried out by the previous government.
Energy company, EDP, has decided to pay the special energy tax for 2017, stating that the conditions to proceed with the payment have been met.
EDP declined to comment but the Ministry of the Environment confirmed that, "the amount to be paid by EDP settles the outstanding payments related to the Special Energy tax."
The INEM medical emergency helicopter that crashed on Saturday night, killing all four on board, was replaced on Monday afternoon with another aircraft, supplied by Babcock, operating out of the Macedo de Cavaleiros base.
The new team consists of two pilots, a doctor and a nurse, a similar compliment to the one that died when the Agusta A109S crashed in bad weather in the Pias mountain range, in the municipality of Valongo near Porto.
The head of ACRAL, the Algarve’s main trade association, regrets the lack of joint promotional activity for regional businesses and states that strategic planning for the region is sorely needed.
While acknowledging that local Council initiatives in the lead up to Christmas have attracted more people to the region’s shops, Alvaro Viegas commented that, "There needs to be a year-round strategy and this does not exist, we can not focus on just two periods, on six or seven Fridays during the summer, plus three weeks in December and then expect consumers to return during the rest of the year."
