The budgets of the Tourism Regions are expected to "maintain and even rise slightly", more precisely "about 1 percent", in 2016.
The announcement was made to Sul Informação by the Secretary of State for Tourism, on the sidelines of the session for the award of Gold Medals and Merit of the Algarve Tourism Region (RTA), which took place on Monday in Faro.
This reinforcement will be guaranteed through an amount transferred via Turismo de Portugal to regional entities and will take effect as early as 2016. In practice, it means that RTA will have more money not only for internal management, but also for the promotion of tourism in the Algarve, in Portugal and Spain.
The government official does not say, definitively, that there will be an increase, even because the OE is still being prepared and has not been approved, but it leaves a guarantee. “What we are trying to do is to guarantee the budget of the Tourism Regions, with a slight increase, of around one percent, to ensure that they are able to carry out their work”, said Ana Mendes Godinho.
«In the State Budget, there is a reduction in relation to 2015. However, in the approach with the Secretary of State, she managed that, through Turismo de Portugal, there was a replenishment of an amount to fill this cut and even strengthen the budgets compared to last year», explained the president of RTA Desidério Silva to Sul Informação, on the same day. "There is, at least, this intention, which we register", he said.
This question had already been “no” addressed by Desidério Silva, during his speech at the ceremony that preceded the conversation with our newspaper. On that occasion, he said that he "was not going to talk" about several hot topics of the day, namely the financing of the RTA, the tolls, the VAT on restaurants, the investment in the Algarve Line and in the Ports of the Region and the planned oil prospecting for the region, for having confidence in the guarantees he has received from Ana Mendes Godinho and in the “common sense” of the governors.
“I believe that in this [oil] issue, as in the railroad, tolls, the Port of Portimão and the VAT on restoration, there are positive differentiating factors that will emerge, because otherwise, many people will be disappointed,” said Desidério Silva.
“I want to believe this, because I trust the Secretary of State for Tourism and I have spoken to her several times since she took office. We had the opportunity to talk about the problems already diagnosed and in relation to which we want to intervene», he added.
The government of António Costa, everything indicates, will be preparing to resolve part of the issues, already in 2016. In addition to the issue of funding, there is the issue of VAT reduction on catering to 13 percent, a measure that Ana Mendes Godinho also made clear will be included in the next OE.
“The Government has been demonstrating that it fulfills the electoral promises it made”, he illustrated. On the part of hotel businessmen, the guarantees received are sufficient, which led AHETA to take a public position in which it "applauds" the decision. Also on the issue of electrification of the Algarve Line assurances were given by the Government that it is even to go forward..
With regard to tolls and oil prospecting, the final decision may not be the one required by the RTA. In the first case, there is another electoral promise, of immediate reduction of the fee charged in Via do Infante, made by the PS, and two parliamentary initiatives of the Left Bloc and the PCP, which supported the formation of the current Government, towards its abolition, that have not yet been to the vote. Still, it is not clear what position the PS will assume in this case.
The prospecting for hydrocarbons is to continue, as stated by the Prime Minister himself in the Assembly of the Republic, and could evolve into the exploration of oil and natural gas, as António Costa says that the non-use of geological resources that can be used by the country, without sacrificing other essential values, cannot be put at risk.
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