"Tolls are being a psychological brake on the entry of Andalusian tourists in the Algarve" criticized the president of the Regional Tourism Authority of the Algarve (ERTA) today, adding that this has been "a very poorly conducted process".
Desidério Silva pointed out that in other regions of Spain, such as Extremadura or Galicia, potential tourists “are not so worried about tolls in Portugal”, because they were more used to it.
But, in relation to visitors to Andalusia, “a psychological barrier was created, not so much because of the introduction of tolls themselves or their cost, but rather because of the difficulty in paying them at the entrance to the Guadiana Bridge and the confusion that this created. in people's heads».
That is why ERTA itself has recently changed the message on the entrance portico on Via do Infante, near the border, removing the reference to tolls and placing only a welcome greeting, added the official. The theme of tolls.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State for Transport Sérgio Silva Monteiro revealed today that electronic devices for payment of Spanish tolls will be able to be used on Portuguese motorways before the summer. A change that could help the Algarve.
Desidério Silva was speaking this morning at the press conference to present the «Algarve Tourism Memorandum – Proposals for a Sustainable Region» , an initiative of the Algarve Tourism in collaboration with various entities and personalities in the sector, to guide the tourist activity in the main destination of country vacation.
The document, approved on Friday by the ERTA board, identifies five pillars of action and more than 30 concrete ideas for the future development of tourism in the Algarve. «The document was born from the realization that we can have a better Algarve. That the region may have a stronger capacity for intervention together with the tutelage. That the problems that affect the region are not more important than its solutions – and it is on the latter that we must (and are) concentrating».
The pillars are Air Accessibility, Tourism Promotion, Fiscal Competitiveness in relation to competing destinations, the clear definition of the Tourism Products to be bet on and also Destination Modernization and Efficiency. These are the «five pillars» that «should guide the attention of Algarve Tourism and its public and private partners in the horizon 2013-2020».
With regard to air access, Desidério Silva argued that «the Algarve should be heard by the new managers of ANA Aeroportos in order to ensure the interests of the region, translated into the reduction of airport fees, the reinforcement of existing routes (low cost included ), in the search for new regular air connections to and from the destination and in the establishment of agreements that diversify the transport network serving the airport'.
As for Tourism Promotion, the president of ERTA stressed that it should "expand to the online channel and social networks".
On the other hand, he underlined, the promotion will have to be directed to «outbound markets that alleviate the fate of seasonality outside the season of sun and sea», with a special focus on the recovery of the Canadian and Scandinavian markets and a bet on the French market , «not neglecting the strategic markets and with a high share for the Algarve tourism – United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, Ireland, Spain and Portugal».
Desidério Silva also stressed the need, «in the current context of economic slowdown», «to provide the Algarve with mechanisms that give new impetus to investment and the tourism sector», defending in particular the urgent need to reduce VAT on golf and restaurants. , to exempt rent-a-car vehicles and the like from tax on vehicles, and «the end of toll collection on the A22».
Keeping as priority tourism products the Sun and Sea and Golf, and continuing to focus on those classified as "under development" in the PENT (Business, Residential, Nautical and Nature), the Memorandum presented today by the president of ERTA also considers that it is «It is necessary to add others that favor a differentiating multi-product offer: Sports, Accessible, Health and Well-being, Gastronomy and Wines, and Caravan Tourism».
Finally, with regard to the Modernization and Efficiency of the Destination, the document stresses that «it is time to introduce a new tourist vocabulary and a value proposition associated with the traditional attributes of the “Algarve” brand (climate, hospitality, safety) and predicates of competitive destination, with simplified bureaucracy, good public transport network, requalified EN125, balanced program of events in regional and seasonal terms, high quality of service and human resources, environmental and landscape preservation, environmental and landscape preservation and a multi-motivational offer of great authenticity, all year round».
Desidério Silva underlined, almost at the end, that the Memorandum, which is not a closed document and remains "open to everyone's contributions", will still be sent today to the Prime Minister, the Ministers of Economy and Finance and the Secretaries of State of the Tourism and Employment, among other official entities.
«The Algarve should have a more specific attention from the Government, for what it represents in the national touristic context», stressed the president of ERTA.
But he stressed that, for the Algarve to assert its points of view, it must have «critical mass and the capacity to assume itself and have leadership to match».
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