Fernando Anastácio, one of the four vice-presidents of the Regional Tourism Authority of the Algarve (ERTA), resigned this Monday afternoon from his mandate, affirming his "complete disagreement" in relation to the guidelines of the tutelage, namely the budget cuts and at the end of the Allgarve program.
Fernando Anastácio told the Sul Informação that his resignation was communicated at 15 pm, in person, to the chairman of ERTA António Pina, shortly after to the chairman of the General Assembly (Elidérico Viegas) and then to the workers, by internal communication.
The vice president so far explained that the reason for his resignation is due to his “deep disagreement with the cancellation of the Allgarve program, the 30% reduction in the ERTA budget, and the position of the Secretary of State for Tourism , which last week defended that the reinforcement or maintenance of the meager resources available for promotion will have to be found in the cut of expenses with the Entity's human resources».
Another point that Fernando Anastácio disagrees with has to do with contractualization: "at this moment there is no negotiation, but imposition of what will be contracted and its presuppositions".
The lawyer and entrepreneur underlined that there has been "a path of devaluation and lack of working conditions that has been accumulating in ERTA". The highest authority for tourism in the Algarve, he defended, "at this moment, it does not have any conditions to develop its work".
"Six months ago the Secretary of State for Tourism announced that it disagreed with the current model of the Regional Entities, but in six months no action was taken, weakening the Entity, creating an expectation that has never been realized about what is to come."
On the other hand, the outgoing vice-president of ERTA reinforced, «at a time when promotion should be strengthened, in the difficult framework in which Tourism lives, with reinforcement in foreign markets and a different positioning in the domestic market, we are witnessing the 30% cut in the budget, with an effective reduction in the amount allocated to us in the State Budget in terms of Tourist VAT».
Furthermore, he stressed, «Allgarve, an entertainment program that represented a significant investment in the region, is cancelled», without being replaced by something equivalent.
«This new reality removes any possibility, in my opinion, of developing serious work, which is increasingly necessary for the benefit of the tourism sector and the Algarve, and does not allow the conditions for a full and complete exercise of the responsibilities that continue to be met. , in my opinion, are attributed to ERTA'.
“Right now, ERTA is virtually at a standstill. It's not doing anything except the BTL, the caravel and two or three other things», denounced Fernando Anastácio.
“I don't understand why they want to empty ERTA, in the most touristic region of the country and harming the sector that contributes the most to the national GDP”, he said.
Fernando Anastácio considered that, given everything that is happening with ERTA and with the Tourism sector in Portugal and in the region, «either if you agree and then you can continue, or if you don't agree and leave. I don't agree, so I left. At this moment, I consider that the ERTA is depleted, after a whole course of devaluation. Each will draw their conclusions from there and act according to their conscience», he concluded.
«For the sake of Tourism and the Algarve, I hope that this position can somehow contribute to launching an alert and promoting reflection among regional, public and private agents, on the path that is being taken that will persist for it will lead to the announced death of what was once an entity (if not the only one) with a regional matrix», added Fernando Anastácio in a note sent to the newsrooms.
In that communiqué, the former vice-president also insists on leaving "a public note of appreciation to all ERTA employees and collaborators, as I leave this institution with the conviction that these are the main asset of the Algarve Tourism".
With the departure of Fernando Anastácio from the vice-presidency of ERTA, Luís Tavares, from Portimar, should take his place. However, Luís Tavares is already a member of another ERTA body, its General Assembly, as a representative of the Portuguese Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies (APAVT).
As the two roles are incompatible, either he chooses one, or Anastácio will be replaced by the other substitute, which, Sul Informação found out, is the businesswoman Marina Correia, from Marinas do Barlavento.
In addition to the departure of Anastácio, ERTA may soon suffer another loss, this one for other reasons, of a professional nature. In a framework of great instability in the Entity and in the sector, President António Pina begins to have few conditions to work.
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