The recently appointed head of the Algarve Tourism Region (RTA) slammed the announcement that the region’s mayors have voted to introduce a ‘tourist tax.’
Joao Fernandes disagrees with the move, its timing and the chosen model, a position that he says is endorsed by the presidents of the Association of Hotels and Tourist Enterprises of the Algarve and the Association of Hoteliers of the Algarve.
The self-serving greed of the Algarve’s Council mayors has found expression in today’s vote to introduce a per night tourist tax on visitors to the region, just at a time when competing destinations are regaining strength in the market.
A tourist tax of €1.50 per night will be extracted between March and October with mayors’ group AMAL estimating that this will generate revenues of €20 million per year which they claim will be spent on local projects.
Is over-tourism turning Lisbon into the next Venice, asks The Telegraph
Few destinations have witnessed a boom in tourism over the last few years quite like Portugal, writes The Telegraphs digital travel editor, Oliver Smith, pointing to United Nations World Tourism Organisation’s figure of 6.8m overseas arrivals in 2010 that has grown to 18.2m in 2016, an increase of 168%.
Ryanair pilots have asked company shareholders to replace the company's leadership because they believe the current model of employment and management has failed.
The call was made in a statement endorsed by Ryanair's pilots’ unions, including Portugal’s Civil Aviation Pilots' Union.
As from Friday 21st, hunters will be banned from those areas of Monchique, Odemira, Portimão and Silves that were affected by the August fire.
The armistice aims to restore populations of game species that have been badly affected by the fire and extends to a line 250 meters outside the burnt perimeter.
Council accounts across the Algarve have shown general improvement in their finances since the recession eased off, some have turned from significant losses to surplus, with an associated increase in social spending and voter happiness.
Not so in Vila Real de Santo António, which has been obliged to launch a Budget Equilibrium Programme, "a rigorous plan that is being executed with maximum responsibility and whose mission is to proceed with the recovery of municipal accounts."
The Secretary of State for Forestry and Rural Development has visited fire affected areas of Silves and spoke to Councillors, forest producers and several of the many government bodies attempting to develop a plan to regenerate the burnt forests.
Miguel Freitas said that by the end of the year the Government plans to have an aid package for eucalyptus growers but also will support those foresters who want to plant slow-growing, more fire-resistant species.
Environmental and anti-oil exploration association, ASMAA, leading the legal challenge to have Galp-ENI's Aljezur drilling licence revoked, is subject to a last-minute legal complication, arranged by the pro-oil government's extensive legal team.
ASMAA posted today, “In spite of the fact that ASMAA, in June 2016, February and December 2017, represented 42,295 public objections in the Portuguese Parliament against the granting of drilling licence to Galp-ENI, a pack of big legal guns employed by Galp-ENI, with the full support of the Portuguese government, is challenging the legitimacy of ASMAA’s Class Action, representing all those individuals and organisations that objected to the planned drilling in Aljezur.”
