Most of us are fed up with the half-truths of politicians and some radio and television channels. To deceive us, they give statistical data that were not collected correctly, such as those on tourism by INE. Or say what is irrelevant.
They say that more foreign tourists come to the Algarve. But many tourists arriving at the airport of Faro go to Spain. The northerners and alfacinhas who come here stay a few days. They spend less per day, as they no longer have full meals, just soup or a hamburger. They no longer stay in hotels, but in guesthouses. In summary, they spend less, even being more people, compared to 2012, much less compared to 2010.
The result has been disastrous, as, anticipating the drop in billing, the increase in VAT and the reduction in credit, almost the entire Algarve Tourism industry has reduced its staff and, therefore, service is slower.
Now, at the last minute, they receive interns, less expensive than professionals, who, with a lot of theory and little practice, get out of the way instead of solving the varied plethora of questions that tourists bring. These leave satisfied with the Portuguese friendliness, but dissatisfied with the service.
The trade has been saying the same thing for months: the number of gifts has not dropped, but they sell cheaper, imported objects. Among the products that we should sell are wine, cheese, virgin oil, made-to-measure clothes, jewelry, pottery. They sell imported jewelry from street stalls. Have you seen the number of closed stores?
By attracting mass tourism instead of focusing on niches and creating jobs, Turismo de Portugal increases unemployment, which brings despair, crime and will kill the golden goose in the Algarve.
Author Jack Soifer is an international consultant and author of books How to get out of the crisis, Algarve/Alentejo – My Love e Yesterday and Today in the Economy.
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