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Algarve 'tourist tax' is unfair and possibly illegal

6237The approval of a tourist tax in the Algarve is a "dangerous temptation" at a time of tourism growth and recovery, said the president of the Association of Hotel Directors of Portugal (ADHP).
 
"At a time when the Algarve is showing signs of higher levels of occupation, we run the risk of spoiling what we have been doing, to earn one or two euros per tourist," said Raul Ribeiro Ferreira, at the XIV Congress of the ADHP in Albufeira.

Rise in sleeping pill sales reveals increasing dependency

bedroomCan’t sleep? Nor can an increasing number of Portuguese whose increased consumption of tranquilizers and sleeping pills indicates a growing dependency.
 
In 2017, an additional 97,000 packages of sleeping pills and tranquilizers were sold than in the year before.

Nature tourism in the Algarve - Odiana makes steady progress

guadianamiradouroOdiana - the lower Guadiana development association - has released a new and rather charming promotional video about the area.(HERE)
 
The film highlights the authenticity of the territory and promotes "another Algarve" to tourists, investors and tour operators - and also for residents.

Saturday: 100% certainty of rain

RainLogoThe temperature will be down to 16 degrees Celcius tomorrow with rains predicted to drench the region at  the start of yet another period of unsettled weather. This is helping to fill the reservoirs but is leaving the ground sodden and much of the population depressed. 
 
The rain from mid-morning, is not reserved for the Algarve as the prediction is for a generally soaked mainland with winds not improving the general mood.

Environment Minister's lamentable Algarve visit

MinisterEnvironmentNot content with pissing off just about everyone he comes in contact with in the Algarve, Environment Minister, João Matos Fernandes, has performed true to form after announcing just €250,000 in central government aid to repair what, at minimum, is €7 million of front line damage wreaked by recent storms and tornados - and that is just in Faro.
 
The Social Democratic Party in Faro, having seen the lame performance of Faro's mayor, Rogério Bacalhau, as he followed the minister while on a visit to damaged areas on Culatra and Faro Island, said the miserly sum was "ridiculous and insulting."

Environment Minister happy to cover protected REN area with pulp sludge

TejoFoamEnvironmental organisation, Zero, has blasted the Minister of the Environment for an illegal,  misguided and bizarre plan to dump 30,000 m3 of pulp mill waste from the Tagus river bed onto to highly protected land.
 
ZERO has openly questioned the Ministry of the Environment as to how the plan to remove the waste at the bottom of the Fratel reservoir and dump the foul contents onto protected land at Vila Velha de Ródão, fits in with current environment protection laws covering natural protected areas.

Suspect in €115,000 theft from Jewish Sites network discovered in mental ward

jewishlogoThe man suspected of stealing €115,000 from Portugal’s network of important Jewish sites (Rede de Judiarias), who has been missing since November, has cropped up in a psychiatric unit.
 
The former candidate for Covilhã council, in Portugal's Central region, has been discovered at a hospital in Beira Interior where he was admitted on March 7th, diagnosed with depression and is receiving medication.

Brand name waters contain plastic micro-particles

water2Many leading brands of water supplied in plastic bottles are contaminated with tiny particles that are seeping in during bottling, according to a major study involving samples from nine countries.

Researchers tested 250 bottles of water in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico, Thailand, and the United States.