Despite the phenomenal growth of the short-term tourists rental accommodation sector, an additional 65 hotels should open next year in Portugal with over half of them located in Lisbon and Oporto.
The data comes from the Association of Hospitality of Portugal, which estimates that 23 of new hotels will be in the Lisbon metropolitan area and 17 in the Porto area.
New evidence indicates that the former Economy Minister, Manuel Pinho, indeed was manipulated by EDP when devising the financially ruinous (for taxpayers) CMEC payments.
EDP directly influenced Rui Cartaxo, at the time an advisor to Manuel Pinho, to set up the Costs for the Maintenance of Contractual Equilibrium (CMEC) scheme that has seen taxpayers unwittingly subsidising the privatised electricity supplier.
The Portuguese will go to the polls next autumn to chose their MPs, and hence their government, on a date confirmed on Friday by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, after consultation with the various parties.
The official Presidency website states that, "after hearing the political parties represented in the Assembly of the Republic, the President of the Republic defined the 6 October 2019 for the holding of legislative elections."
The Funchal, launched in 1961 and destined for the scrap yard, has been rescued by a British company, Signature Living.
The cost of making the ship seaworthy is prohibitive but the company bid €3.9 million, well above the auction list price of €2.3 million, and aims to refit the vessel for use as a floating hotel.
According to a statement from the Faculty of Science and Technology at Lisbon’s New University, a new species of fossil crocodile has changed scientists’ thinking on the origin of crocodiles.
The new species, Portugalosuchus azenhae, is about 95 million years old and was found in Tentúgal, Coimbra. The discovery shows that true crocodiles are 20 million years older than previously thought, according to paleontologists at the Lisbon and Coimbra Universities.
A crane has toppled into the sea at the end of the jetty, the molhe grande, at Vila Real de Santo António.
According to information released on Thursday by the National Maritime Authority, the crane was involved in the maintenance and repair work that is taking place.
João Fernandes, the current president of the Algarve Tourism Region has won the election to become the new president of the other regional tourism body, the Algarve Tourism Association, thus able to bring coherence to the objectives and efforts of the two organisations.
The contest was a stiff one with the Algarve Tourism Association’s current president, Carlos Luís, adamant that the boards should be run by two different presidents but a majority of the vote holders disagreed and the Algarve now can be promoted regionally and internationally in harmony.
Parking areas in Faro, that normally are served by pay-and display meters, will remain free until the end of December.
The Council has taken the opportunity to spread some Christmas cheer, while encouraging shoppers to visit the city, by taking advantage of the November 30th expiry of the current concessions.
