Within a year, the historic center of Vila Real de Santo António will be more “sexy" and will manage to attract more tourists to this county, namely those who bet on luxury and quality.
This is, at least, the expectation of the mayor of Vilarealense, Luís Gomes, one day after restoration work on the centenary Hotel Guadiana have begun, with a view to the future installation, in this building, of a 5-star hotel unit.
«We and those who won the hotel's concession are very focused on giving charm and a sexy look to the historic center of Vila Real de Santo António. We want to enhance another register of tourist occupation and bring people who go looking for the heritage and with another purchasing power. There is a whole economy that can be created around the Hotel Guadiana, which we do not reject», Luís Gomes told reporters, on the sidelines of the session for signing the contract for the restoration of this building, which took place this Tuesday.
This will be the first hotel of this type in the city, and the idea is that it won't be the only one. Once this complicated process, which involved the expropriation of the building of the former Hotel do Guadiana, was resolved, the Chamber of VRSA began to prepare the future and placed on public auction three properties in the historic center, for lease and later adaptation into charming hotel unitsand. Also very advanced is the process that will allow the installation of a hotel in the Sports Complex.
Yesterday, Tuesday, was the day to project the ideal future, but also to reveal the concrete plans already underway, which suggest that VRSA will have its first 5-star hotel «in the summer of 2017». A deadline that, despite not being official, seems quite realistic, as the restoration work on the Hotel Guadiana building has already started and will last for ten months.
For now, a lot of garbage that has accumulated over years of neglect has been cleaned up. Afterwards, a deep intervention will be carried out to adapt the building, built in the first quarter of the XNUMXth century, to the requirements of a modern hotel unit. Even so, the building's outline and its main architectural elements, outside and inside, will remain.
This general intervention is the responsibility of the City Council, which has already agreed to grant this space to the international hotel group Grand Africa. After the building is restored, future dealers will still have to intervene in terms of decoration, creation of a concept and furniture, something that could last a few months. However, it is to be expected that investors will want to open the hotel in time for the summer peak season.
When talking about Hotel Guadiana, the new 5-star hotel, one should no longer think only of the building on Avenida da República, right in front of Porto de Recreio.
The new hotel will be spread over two spaces, the old Customs Building, next door, the first to be built in VRSA, and an infrastructure in Ponta da Areia, at the mouth of the Guadiana, which will be the Beach Club of the Hotel Guadiana.
The Alfândega Building, recently restored, will be a multipurpose space. «It will have a museological part, dedicated to the Guadiana River, with a gourmet restaurant and, above, suites that will be explored by the Hotel Guadiana. The Beach Club will be a bar/restaurant in Ponta da Areia, associated with this complex», described Luís Gomes.
In order to put in motion what is expected to be a "snowball", which will boost the installation of hotels with differentiated concepts in the city centre, the municipality had to make a considerable investment, which will amount to around 2,4 million euros.
“We invested around 400 thousand euros in the expropriation of the building. Now, we are going to invest close to 2 million in its recovery», explained Luís Gomes. The funds come from the Jessica Fund, a financing instrument of the European Union that works like a loan, but with very advantageous terms and rates. «The concession is for 30 years, after which the Hotel returns to the Chamber. Until then, the rents that will be paid to us will allow us to reimburse Jessica», guaranteed the Vilarealense mayor.
Luís Gomes also pointed out that the Chamber is making an investment not only in tourist qualification, but, above all, in «increasing the county's employability». «This hotel will directly employ 40 people. The one at the Sports Complex, which we also expect to be built soon, should create 60 new jobs», he stressed.
In this field, everything seems to be progressing satisfactorily. «On the public auction [of the three properties], there was an interested party who submitted a proposal, which we are considering. In the case of the Sports Complex, there is a second competition going on for a hotel, which closes in a week or two. There had already been a first tender, but there was a procedural error – it should have been published in the Jornal das Communities and it wasn't – and we had to repeat it. But, at the time, two interested parties appeared», said the mayor.
“I hope all this happens. I would love to see the Hotel Guadiana opening in the summer of 2017. And I hope that we are at the same point regarding the hotel in the Sports Complex, despite being a bigger project», he concluded.
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