An independent assessor of Ryanair’s liability towards 120,000 of its passengers, mucked about by nine days of strike action in July that saw hundreds of flights cancelled, estimates a total liability of €33 million if everyone affected knows their rights and bothers to complain.

The informed estimate is from the Airhelp website whose director of global communication, Paloma Salmerón, explained that compensation is owed to thousands of passengers, "whose holiday plans were destroyed by the poor management of the airline in recent months."

Portugal’s President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, says he welcomes government proposals designed to attract emigrants back to the country, “wherever they come from.”

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said the problem is of national concern but praised those who left during the crisis and have done well, creating ‘little Portugals’ in other countries.

The Council of the idyllic, quiet, westernmost municipality of the Algarve region, has decided that what the area needs is more hotels.

Just as the tourism market changes slowly but surely away from hotels and towards short term ‘Alojamento Local’ type accommodation, Aljezur's mayor welcomes the arrival of new hotels and blames the growth in local 'AL' tourist rental properties for driving up prices and making property unaffordable for locals.

A 29-year-old woman from Vale Judeu, missing for several days, was found dead yesterday evening. Horrified dog walkers found a burnt-out car and could see a body on the back seat, gagged and tied. The vehicle was discovered on rough countryside land between Loulé and Quarteira.

According to TVI24, "the car was burned and was seen by people walking dogs in the open, around 18.30." (on Monday 27th August).

The 29-year-old British guest of billionaire businessman Jon Hunt, missing presumed dead in the Santa Clara reservoir in the Ourique municipality, has still not been found despite exhaustive searches by specialist divers.

Richard Chapelow was on holiday in Portugal as part of a group of friends of Hunt’s son, Harry.

Portugal booked over $17 billion in tourism revenue last year, according to data from the World Tourism Organisation which shows the country overtook Greece ($14.6 billion) for the first time.

In the first half 2018, tourism revenues in Portugal is close to €7 billion, an increase of almost 14% compared to the same period of last year, according to data released in August by the Bank of Portugal which it puts down to, ‘an increase in prices.’

Portugal’s national road company, Infraestruturas de Portugal, has announced that it will invest another €100 million in prettifying the nation’s crumbling road system – over the next three years.

In a statement, the company announced, "contracts totaling €107.5 million to carry out ongoing conservation work on the National Road Network over the next three years."

The occupancy rate across the Algarve’s hotel sector continues to disappoint, with July coming in below the hoped for level.

The average room occupancy rate in the region’s hotels was 83.8% in July, down 3.9% from the same period last year, according to the Algarve’s hoteliers’ association.